Otago prop Keith Cameron is moving from the playing field to the coaching room.
Cameron (30) is to be the new scrum coach for the Highlanders, and is unlikely to be seen in the Otago jersey again.
Cameron replaces Steve Cumberland, who left to coach in Japan earlier this year.
Cameron said the Otago Rugby Football Union had approached him about taking on the job and he jumped at the chance.
"It is a pathway I want to get into and want to learn off the coaches we have here," Cameron said.
The loosehead prop, who played all but one game for Otago this year in the Air New Zealand Cup, was not named in the Highlanders last Friday, but said he was never going to be as he focused on his new coaching role.
Cameron has played 33 games for Otago, 36 games for Southland, and eight games for the Highlanders.
He was still finalising the details of the new job with the ORFU.
Cameron is a qualified personal trainer and has worked in the fitness industry.
He will be working with New Zealand Rugby Union scrum coach Mike Cron.
Though only 30, Cameron said he would find it difficult to keep playing for Otago.
He could not play club rugby as he would be busy working with the Highlanders.
Cameron has just had an operation on his right shoulder, to clear up some niggles which he had carried through the season, but said he was in good health.
The Highlanders start training on December 1.
ORFU and Highlanders chief executive Richard Reid said the union was still finalising the arrangement with Cameron, but said it was vital the union maintained experienced players such as Cameron in the system.
Cameron had plenty of knowledge to pass on to players, he said.
Meanwhile, Otago fullback Glen Horton is unlikely to be seen on a rugby field until next April at the earliest.
Horton left the field with a shoulder injury against Taranaki in late September.
Horton had surgery on his injured right shoulder three weeks ago and his arm will be in a sling for another three weeks.
The injury, where he tore the ligaments in the shoulder and dislocated it, occurred when he stuck his arm out to stop a Taranaki player and slipped in the other direction at the same time.
He had been asked to come and train with the Highlanders but that all depended on how his rehabilitation progressed.
Medical advice was he was unlikely to play again until April.
Horton (25) is contracted with the NZRU until the end of next season, but does not have a contract with Otago.
Horton has played 45 games for Otago, and said 50 was an obvious goal, but he was firstly concentrating on getting his shoulder right.
