The Western Force have continued to strengthen their coaching ranks for 2017 after signing Shaun Berne as the club’s attack coach.

Berne will join the Force for the 2017 & 2018 Super Rugby seasons having spent the last two years with Irish club Leinster in elite player development.

The Australian born centre played has over 200 games of professional experience having played for Bath, Waratahs, Calvisano and Leinster over a 13-year career.

Berne is excited to return to Australia and continue to develop his coaching career.

“Firstly, I’d like to thank Leinster and the IRFU for the opportunities they gave me, having transitioned out of my playing days and into coaching, they have been really good to me.

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“I’m looking forward to working alongside the rest of the coaches, and being able to bounce ideas off those guys.”

The attraction of Super Rugby was enough for Berne to consider a move.

“You can’t help but be attracted to the style of rugby that’s played in Super Rugby,” he said.

“Over here in Europe it often gets bogged down in nasty weather, but the weather in Super Rugby doesn’t have that kind of impact, which allows for that great style of rugby.”

The addiditon of Berne to the coaching team is the third in two weeks after Joe Barakat and Alan Gaffney were announced recently, and head coach Dave Wessels said Berne would be a great inclusion.

“Two things stand out about Shaun from the interview process; the first is that he has a fantastic rugby brain.

“I’ve been told that when he played alongside the likes of Brian O’Driscoll he was driving a lot of the ideas around Leinster’s attack and that came across clearly in all of his presentations. The second is that he’s a person of character who has a deep love for Australian rugby.”

Shaun Berne Playing Career:

1999-2006 Bath 122 (287)

2001-2006 NSW Waratahs 38 (57)

2009-2011 Leinster 19 (55)

2011-2012 Calvisano 23 (70)

Coaching Career:

2015-2016 Leinster Elite Player Development