London Irish have announced that Brian Smith has returned to the club as director of rugby.

The 45-year-old former England attack coach, who spent three years with the Exiles from 2005, will work alongside Toby Booth in order to improve the set-up of the club.

"I am delighted to be returning to London Irish," said Smith. "Toby and I have always had a great relationship and that brought with it a lot of success on field in my time at the club and I know that we're destined for even greater things.

"We're building a new squad with fantastic potential and if we all pull together we can really make things happen."

Before his time at England and London Irish, Smith acted as defence coach at Bath Rugby.