Tana Umaga has welcomed his former All Blacks teammate Leon MacDonald with open arms, after he was announced as the new Blues head coach this afternoon.
Umaga has been demoted and has taken up a two-year contract as the Blues' assistant coach.
After an end-of-year review by the Blues and the New Zealand Rugby Boards, all parties agreed to a re-alignment of roles.
"This is the best way forward for us as a club, for the players to get what they need and I'm just excited about the new role working with Leon [MacDonald], Tom [Coventry – forwards coach], Dan [Halangahu – backs coach] and Ben [Afeaki – scrum coach] going forward," said Umaga.
"I'm a believer that's what it will take for us to get that success that these players deserve, this club deserves and obviously this region deserves."
MacDonald and Umaga coached the New Zealand Under-20s team together in 2015.
"As I have said we've had some great discussions already with Leon and the coaches and obviously the timing – it is what it is.
"Yet we are looking forward to getting on board and getting together and making it work because we know it will.
"I'm excited about that."
Umaga was in charge of the Blues for three years, with the Auckland Super Rugby franchise failing to make the play-offs under his tenure.
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