It would appear one name can now be crossed off the list of potential successors to Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan with the news that Alan Gaffney is to join the Leinster coaching ticket for the next two years.

The Australian, who had been touted as a possible Ireland coach should O'Sullivan be shown the door by the IRFU, will rejoin the province as backs coach.

He will work alongside head coach Michael Cheika and defence coach Kurt McQuilkin, who have both penned two-year extensions to their current deals.

Gaffney has been brought in to replace the outgoing backs coach David Knox, who departs for Sydney at the end of the season.

He will begin his role in August after he sees out his contract with English Premiership side Saracens. His decision to return to Leinster will re-unite him with Cheika for the first time since he coached the former Wallaby at Randwick in the early 1990s.

At the turn of the century, Gaffney spent two years at Leinster under then coach Matt Williams and won the Celtic League with the province in the 2001/2002 season before moving to Munster as head coach.

He won the Celtic League and Celtic Cup in his three years with Munster and twice guided the province to the semi-finals of the Heineken.

He has since coached the Wallabies backs and Saracens and, according to a Leinster statement today, was coveted by a number of northern and southern hemisphere clubs.

Former Ireland international and Leinster captain McQuilkin has coached with the province since last summer and boasts an impressive CV himself, with an under-19 World Cup win in 1997 the highlight thus far. He has also coached the Irish under-21s and the Sevens sides.