Liam Middleton has been appointed coach of the Canadian men's rugby sevens team.
The 37-year-old Zimbabwe native succeeds Geraint John of Wales, who quit this summer to take over the Australian sevens side.
Most recently, Middleton was director of rugby of the Zimbabwe Rugby Union and has served as Zimbabwe sevens coach since 2004.
His hiring is subject to Canadian immigration requirements. Kieran Crowley, coach of the Canadian 15-man team, will remain as interim sevens coach until the red tape is taken care of.
Crowley will coach Canada in Australia next month at the first stop of the IRB World Series.
Middleton has coached at English Championship side Bristol as well as England's Hartpury College and South Africa's Howick High School. He also worked for England's Rugby Football Union.
"We're very excited to have Liam joining our coaching staff," Rugby Canada high performance manager Steve Lancaster said in a statement. "We went through an extensive application and interview process, and there were a number of highly qualified candidates from around the world, including one Canadian."
Canada has 19 centralized players this year, including veterans Nanyak Dala, John Moonlight, Phil Mack, Nathan Hirayama and Sean Duke.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.