Warren Gatland has been appointed as the new Wales coach on a four-year contract. The 44-year-old New Zealander - a former All Blacks hooker - becomes Wales' third Kiwi coach, following Graham Henry and Steve Hansen.

Gatland, who led Wasps to a hat-trick of Premiership titles from 2003 to 2005 and won the Heineken Cup in 2004, succeeds Gareth Jenkins, who was sacked following a dismal World Cup campaign when Wales failed to progress beyond the pool stage.

Jenkins' World Cup assistant Nigel Davies will take charge for the one-off Test against world champions South Africa in Cardiff on November 24 and then Gatland, who is currently coach of Waikato, will take over on December 1.

"This is a great honour, and I feel a tremendous sense of pride in having been chosen as the new head coach of Wales," said Gatland. "I have been given the opportunity to coach at the highest level, and I am very grateful to get this chance.

"There is a lot of hard work ahead, but I know there is enormous talent in Wales and I feel extremely positive about what can be achieved. My aim is to leave Welsh rugby in a much better state when I finish here than it is at the start of my career as Wales coach. There is a huge amount of potential here."

Welsh rugby chiefs launched a worldwide search to find Jenkins' successor, but they said Gatland emerged as their first choice candidate early on. "Wales is the sleeping giant of world rugby, and I want to put in the right structures and processes to make sure we achieve our full potential," Gatland added.

"It is not my style to hiss and roar at the start, so I will initially be doing a lot of watching and talking to understand exactly what needs to be done. My priorities are clearly defined, with the short term goal to ensure we put the right things in place to face England in the Six Nations [on February 2] and in the long term, I will be working to develop a team for the next Rugby World Cup in 2011."