Saracens have appointed former Australia international Rod Kafer as their new first-team coach.
Kafer, who joined Saracens from Leicester at the end of last season, had initially been set an assistant role to Wayne Shelford.
But Shelford was recently released from his duties following a poor Zurich Premiership campaign, creating a vacancy that Kafer will now fill.
Saracens were believed to have targeted Australia Under-21 coach Laurie Fisher as Shelford's replacement, but those plans fell through.
Kafer played fly-half and centre for the Wallabies, and was a key member of the Leicester side when they enjoyed recent Heineken Cup success.
Saracens chief executive Mark Sinderberry admitted the decision to appoint Kafer only came about after other potential candidates failed to match the Australian's abilities.
Sinderberry said: "He has been running pre-season training while we looked for a head coach and has had a big influence in shaping our set up for the new season advising on players, our conditioning appointments, and pre-season schedule.
"Throughout the appointment process I kept on coming back to the fact that nothing I was seeing was any better than what we already had in place.
"As pre-season training got under way the reports from the players and other coaches have been very impressive and it became obvious that the natural successor was already in place.
"The seal of approval came last week when I discussed the appointment with the senior players and Taine Randell who endorsed my decision."
Kafer has no reservations about retiring from playing in order to lead Saracens from the touchline.
He said: "I'm really pleased to have been appointed the new head coach at Saracens.
"I had only planned to play during the World Cup but when the opportunity arose I didn't have to think too long about hanging my boots up a few months early.
"Pre-season training has been going well and when Mark discussed the opportunity with me I knew it was the right thing for me to do.
"I've been involved with a lot of decisions in relation to the new season at the club and have contributed to discussions on the make up of the team that has been put together both on and off the pitch.
"I've effectively been leading the coaching since July and our discussions centred on the fact that there was a good amount of continuity already within the camp and we wanted to build on it."