Alama Ieremia

Some might say he's gone out of the frying pan and into the fire, but former All Black Alama Ieremia has been tasked with turning round the fortunes of the problem Auckland provincial side.

Ieremia's appointment as head coach for the next three seasons was announced on Monday by the Auckland Rugby Union. The 47-year-old former Hurricanes assistant and most recently in charge of the Manu Samoa setup takes over from Nick White who stepped aside at the end of a horror 2017 campaign that saw the Auks go 3-7 and narrowly avoid relegation from the Mitre 10 Cup's Premiership division.

Samoa Rugby Union's head coach Ieremia is in Fiji for the 2016 World Rugby Pacific Challenge as the manager of the Samoa A team.

Talking about the general standard of rugby on display by the three island nations in the tournament, the once feared backline utility feels improvements are being made.

"The game is actually moving towards suiting Pacific Islanders. The openness and making sure of the ball skills of island forwards is very critical now," he told the Fiji Times.

The man who scored the first points in professional rugby is about to embark on a personal crusade to prepare Samoa to enter Super Rugby.

Alama Ieremia is about to begin his first full year working as director of coaching for Samoa and coach of the country's national rugby side.