Bristol Bears have announced the appointment of young scrum coach Alasdair Dickinson.
The former Gloucester and Sale Sharks prop joins up with Bristol ahead of the season restart on a three-year contract and has been dubbed as one of the 'most highly regarded young coaches in the UK' by the Bears.
Since retiring from the game in 2018, Dickinson has worked as a scrum coach with the Scottish Rugby Union, working with Scotland Women, the U20s and the academies.
He now joins up with Pat Lam at Bristol who said: “After a lengthy and thorough process, we’re delighted to bring Alasdair on board as the standout candidate for the scrum coach role.
“Alasdair is a young coach with huge ability and a hunger to develop himself into a world class scrum coach. He’s played at the very highest level and has a detailed understanding of the set piece and how it can be a destructive weapon for the team.
“We’re proud of the progress we have made with our set piece and our ambition is to have the most dominant scrum in the Gallagher Premiership.”
Dickinson also played for Edinburgh Rugby during his career as well as making 58 appearances for the Scottsh national team, appearing in three Rugby World Cups during a 15 year career.
He said: “The opportunity to join a club like Bristol is massive for me and I’m grateful to Pat for putting his faith in me. I’ve been impressed by the environment and vision of the Bears and clearly everything is in place for the club to push forward over the next few years.
“I have ambitions to be world class in my field and have already learned so much during my time coaching with Scotland.
"The quality of the Bears forward unit – with a blend of experience and really exciting young players – is outstanding and I’m looking forward to working with the group, continuing to develop that pack mentality and helping to take Bears to the next level.”
Dickinson will have new talent to work with in the scrum when he joins, with prop Kyle Sinckler and number 8 Ben Earl both new signings at the club.
The Premiership Rugby season is set to start once again on August 15, with clubs currently back in training.
