Cape Town – Eastern Province Rugby Union chief, Anele Pamba confirmed the resignation of Eastern Province Kings forwards coach, Adrian Kennedy.

This follows the news that Kennedy’s son, Ross, who also played for the Kings this season, has been snapped up by the Crusaders for next season’s Super Rugby competition.

“Kennedy is going back to New Zealand, but I am not sure if he is going to work (over there),” Pamba said in Die Burger newspaper.

Kings coach, Alan Solomons has worked with Kennedy Snr. during his stints at Western Province, Stormers, Ulster and Northampton before joining forces once more in Port Elizabeth.

Lock, Barend Pieterse, who was in the shadow of Kennedy jnr. for much of this season, will have the chance to bring his line-out expertise to the fore and along with Kings' under-21 coach, Robbie Kempson, which could add a new dimension to the Kings setup.

According to the report in Die Burger, former Taranaki coach Kennedy Snr. was not the most popular coach amongst the players with many alleged incidents taking place, citing that he may have been biased towards his son’s place in the team.

Pamba confirmed that the EPRU will not be looking to replace Kennedy anytime soon.

“At this stage, we are only looking at appointing a new forwards coach after the Vodacom Cup. Rob Kempson (EP’s under-21 coach) will continue to help the Kings out with the scrums and we are very fortunate to have Barend Pieterse who is a line-out specialist.”