Jeremy Thrush scored the winning try for New Zealand against Scotland in November © Getty Images

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Gloucester have announced the signing of All Blacks and Hurricanes lock Jeremy Thrush.

Thrush, who has 11 caps for New Zealand, will join Gloucester after the Rugby World Cup, which takes place in England in October and November 2015. Thrush was part of the New Zealand squad that toured Europe in November and scored the winning try in the tight Test with Scotland at Murrayfield.

"Signing a player of Jeremy's ability further highlights Gloucester's ambition to compete with the best clubs in Europe," said Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys.

"He has been a stand-out performer in Super XV rugby over a number of seasons, and the experience he has gained being part of a successful All Blacks squad will be a key element in establishing Gloucester as one of the dominant forward packs in England.

"His recent man-of-the-match performance against Scotland showed what Jeremy will bring to Gloucester in terms of his rugby ability. He will also add huge value to the squad, both on and off the field, through his leadership abilities.

"As we continue to build our squad for the 2015-16 season, our initial focus was the retention of key players who were out of contract. This has now been done and with Jeremy's announcement this morning, we will continue to add strength in depth to our squad over the next few weeks."

Gloucester's chief executive Stephen Vaughan was equally pleased with the capture of Thrush. He said: "The addition of a top quality All Black like Jeremy to our squad demonstrates our determination to keep building towards a squad capable of consistently challenging for honours.

"We began a rebuilding process this season by introducing a completely new coaching set up and a host of new players and we see this exciting announcement as further reinforcement of our total commitment to investing in the playing squad."

Gloucester's attention is now expected to turn to strengthening their front row and the club have made contact with a number of props on both sides of the scrum.