Ronan O'Gara will take his first head coach role with La Rochelle next season.
The former Ireland out-half will call time on his stay in New Zealand with the Crusaders to return to France.
O'Gara, 42, will work under former Ulster head coach Jono Gibbes who will take the director of rugby position at the Top 14 club.
It will be a second spell in France for O'Gara after spending four and half years with Racing 92 where he graduated from kicking to defence coach.
He joined the Crusaders in November 2017 where he has worked as a backs coach.
And he will help the New Zealand side to defend their Super Rugby title this summer before returning to France.
In a statement on the Crusaders website, O'Gara explained his latest move.
He said: "This is one of the best rugby clubs in the world, and it certainly wasn’t an easy decision to move on from this team and their high-performance environment," he said.
"I’m grateful to the Crusaders for the faith they’ve shown in me as a coach, and I’m incredibly fortunate to have worked alongside a world-class playing and management group for the last two seasons.
"While I see this move to La Rochelle as the next step in my coaching career and an exciting opportunity for my young family, I’d like to think, long-term, this is not necessarily the end of my time with the Crusaders.
"My focus now is helping to deliver a successful 2019 campaign with the side before my family and I return to France at the end of the season."
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