Now we know who Tommy Bowe’s new boss at Ulster will be

Hot on the heels of bagging the signature of Tommy Bowe, Ulster have now snagged a new coach, New Zealander Mark Anscombe.

The Kiwi has been running the very successful All Black Under 20s of late but this is his first job outside of his native country. However in his time as coach of Auckland he worked with John Afoa and Jared Payne so he is at least familiar with some of the faces at Ravenhill.

It is understood that Anscombe came out on top of a three-man race that included former Ulster player Matt Sexton and former Gloucester coach Dean Ryan.

Anscombe, 54, is due to arrive in Belfast to begin work on June 1 but he told the press today he is well aware of the exploits of Ulster this term.

"I've been keeping an eye on Ulster for a while now and I'm very impressed with the plans and what's happening at Ulster Rugby and I've very excited about the prospect at being involved in that," said Anscombe.

"It goes without saying that the job will present me with an exciting challenge.

"Ulster have been developing over the past few years, they've had some new players come in to strengthen the squad so the foundations are there but there's a lot of work to be done in terms of moving on to the next stage and that will be a challenge for me and for all of us."

The Baby Blacks that Anscombe has been involved with for the last few seasons have romped to the Junior World title in each of the years he has been part of the set-up and with a reputation as a forwards coach, the Ravenhill faithful will be hoping he can bring that success to the northern hemisphere.

Anscombe has been handed a two-year deal to replace Brian McLoughlin in the Ulster hotseat.