Wellington, March 12 NZPA - Former Chiefs and Waikato player Greg Smith has been appointed set piece coach for Waikato in this year's national rugby championship.

Smith, who has coaching experience at representative, club and international level, will start his new role in July. He will work alongside Waikato coach Chris Gibbes and assistant coach Scott McLeod, focusing on scrums, line-outs and restarts.

Gibbes said Smith had "solid experience" as a coach and player, and the squad would benefit from extra focus on set piece play.

Smith was last year named Air NZ Cup coach for Bay of Plenty, but was replaced before the competition began on July 30 amid claims of a player revolt and a breakdown with management. As a hooker Smith played 70 games for Waikato, 47 for the Chiefs and played international rugby for nine years with Fiji.

Over the next few weeks Smith will be putting his set piece coaching skills to practice in Japan with the Mitsubishi team.