Brad Mooar: Scarlets coach to leave for All Blacks role
- Published
Mooar is a qualified solicitor and was admitted as barrister and solicitor to the High Court of New Zealand in 1997
Scarlets head coach Brad Mooar will leave the region at the end of the season to take up a coaching role with New Zealand.
Mooar replaced fellow Kiwi Wayne Pivac at the start of the 2019-20 season, but will depart early to join Ian Foster's backroom staff as an attack coach.
Scarlets will receive a compensation package that will allow Mooar to leave at the end of the current season.
Mooar said it was an "incredibly humbling and proud moment".
"The opportunity to help coach your country comes around very rarely, so I would like to thank the Scarlets for allowing me to join the All Blacks," he said.
"I will continue to give it my all with this special group of people at the Scarlets this season to help us achieve our goals before we head back to New Zealand to join Fozzie and the All Blacks."
All Blacks head coach Foster was appointed on 11 December, taking up the position following Steve Hansen's departure.
And Foster said he is "delighted" that Mooar has agreed to join his coaching team.
"I know the new coaching group is excited and keen to get into their work next season and we'll look forward to welcoming Brad in following his commitments with Scarlets," said Foster.
"On behalf of the All Blacks, I'd also like to thank Scarlets for their understanding around Brad's release."
Scarlets general manager Jon Daniels admitted he had bee surprised by events
"It's fair to say none of us planned this, including Brad," said Daniels.
"We are in a position where we did not want to be saying goodbye after a year.
"There is probably only one team in the world that could have come calling and Brad would have taken this decision.
"We are respectful of that and also delighted with the response from Ian Foster, All Blacks and NZRU with the discussions we had about his release.
"There had to be compensation but also we are excited about developing partnerships and relationships going forward from this situation.
"We will look forward to the rest of the season and hope Brad will leave Parc y Scarlets with some silverware."