Jono Gibbes to leave Ulster at the end of the season

Ulster Rugby have confirmed that Head Coach Jono Gibbes will leave the province at the end of the season to return to New Zealand.

Gibbes took charge of the PRO14 team replacing Les Kiss, who left by mutual consent following a string of bad results.

Commenting on his decision to leave, Gibbes said: "Being a long way from home for the last ten years has made me prioritise things above my career and so I'll be returning at the end of this season for family reasons.

"The decision to leave here is a difficult one professionally, because I support the team and the staff, and I am excited for what the future holds for them. I believe there are enough passionate and professional people involved to build on the existing strong foundations of the club..."

Operations Director, Bryn Cunningham, added:

"While it's clearly disappointing to lose a coach of Jono's experience and quality, we fully understand and support his decision as family must always come first.

"We'd like to thank Jono for his dedication thus far and I know that he will be fully committed to us until the end of the season.

"A review of the coaching structure is ongoing and the desired outcome of this will be to provide us with a strong, well-balanced coaching team and some long-term stability."