Steve Tandy made more than 100 appearances for the Ospreys © Getty Images

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Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup | RaboDirect PRO12

Teams: Ospreys | Wales

The Ospreys have appointed Steve Tandy as their new head coach.

The move comes after the Welsh Region announced that head coach Sean Holley and director of rugby Scott Johnson had left the Ospreys with immediate effect.

The 32-year-old Tandy, who steps up from his role as assistant coach, will take charge of team affairs ahead of the Ospreys' RaboDirect PRO12 clash with Aironi at the Liberty Stadium on Friday. He will be assisted by forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys with the full make-up of his coaching team yet to be confirmed.

Tandy, who played 102 matches for the Ospreys between 2003 and 2010, began his coaching career with the Ospreys' age-grade set-up before becoming head coach to the Bridgend Ravens and then working as a technical coach for the first-team. He stepped up to acting head coach during this season's Anglo-Welsh Cup campaign.

"This is an excellent opportunity for me and I'm really excited about the challenges ahead," he said. "Clearly there's an air of expectation on whoever is in charge at the Ospreys, but having been here since the very beginning I know what to expect.

"I enjoyed taking charge of the team during the LV= Cup and I'm confident in my ability to be able to make a success of this opportunity. It's a tough job, but I share the Ospreys ambitions and want to be able to play my part in us achieving those ambitions.

"Initially, my focus will be on attempting to finish this season on a high. We are in a good position in the PRO12 with eight games to go, and the target is for us to achieve a home semi-final. We want to maintain both our position as the leading Welsh region and our proud record in the competition, which I was fortunate enough to win three times as a player."

Ospreys chief operations officer Andrew Hore said: "We are delighted to be able to confirm Steve's appointment as Head Coach. He is a true stalwart of the region having served us so well as a player, and is a straight talker and natural leader who has already enjoyed success as an age-grade and club coach.

"He's a forward thinker who has his own ideas about how to do things. I know he is excited about the future for the Ospreys, and as a business, we share that excitement. We believe he will be a success in this role, not only helping to take the Ospreys onto another level, but to help with the continued development of other coaches in the region."