SOUTH African Omar Mouneimne is the new defence and kicking strategy coach at Worcester Warriors.

The former Italy defence coach has a wealth of experience at the top level and had been working with Stade Francais in Paris.

Mouneimne has been assisting as a consultant at Worcester in recent weeks but will make a permanent move to the club at the start of next term.

Simon Cross, the defence coach since the summer of 2013, will now become Warriors’ breakdown coach.

The arrival of Mouneimne will see him reunited with former colleague Gary Gold, whom he spent time alongside at Super Rugby outfit the Sharks.

He said: “I’m looking forward to getting started at Warriors and to help Gary and his team push up the Premiership table.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to work alongside a talented young squad.”

Warriors are in pursuit of a world-class fly-half for next season.

And the capture of Mouneimne will reignite rumours of Morné Steyn being linked with Warriors.

Springbok international Steyn is currently at Stade Francais, also known to director of rugby Gold and a former room-mate at the Bulls with centre Wynand Olivier.

Gold said: “I have known Omar for a number of years.

“I’ve seen the work he’s done at a number of teams.

“He’s a real livewire and a unique type of coach and has a martial arts background so his attention to detail in the collision work is also particularly good as well as his defensive knowledge.

“I think he will make a huge difference. I’ve said all along that I am particularly happy with the group of coaches we’ve got and been really happy with the way they’ve worked.

“I’ve obviously had time to reflect on the things I think we’ve done well at.

“I’ve found two areas where a great improvement technically were needed; in our breakdown work and the speed of recycling, especially with the backs we’ve got and our ambition to score tries.

“We need to create quick ball so I wanted to have somebody doing the breakdown which I thought Simon could be a really good job at. I wanted a fresh voice from a defensive point of view so Omar has come in.”

Mouneimne began his coaching career back in 2006 with South Africa’s Sevens team in the World Series before moving to Super Rugby side the Stormers in 2008, helping them reach the 2010 Super 14 final.

He also worked with Western Province as they reached the semi-finals of the Currie Cup in 2009 and the final in 2010, while the Under 21s and Under 19s both won their competitions.

In 2010, Mouneimne moved into international rugby as defence coach of Italy where the Azzurri beat defending champions France in 2011 for the first time ever in the Six Nations.

A spell at Edinburgh followed as he helped them reach the European Challenge Cup final in 2015 before a stint at Lyon in the Top 14.

In his short time working alongside Gold at the Durban-based Sharks, Mouneimne helped them reach the quarter-finals of last year’s Super Rugby, as they boasted the fewest points conceded and the second-fewest tries conceded out of all 18 teams in the competition.

Mouneimne will be in tow as Warriors travel to Newcastle Falcons in their penultimate Aviva Premiership match on Friday (8pm).

Gold said: “I didn’t want a fresh voice for the sake of a fresh voice.

“We’ve changed, not so much the system, but the defensive technique and hopefully the players will feel a little bit more comfortable in that system.

“You want it to become second nature to them but that will only come after an extended period of repetition.

“That’s why the time was right for us to try to get someone in as quickly as we could to get an opportunity to get a taste of Omar now and then in the pre-season."