Belfast - All Blacks prop John Afoa has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Ulster, starting after the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand this year.
Afoa has represented New Zealand 28 times since his debut against Ireland on the 2005 Grand Slam tour. He's been the main back-up prop since 2008, featuring in the other Grand Slam tours of the home unions that year and last November.
"We have deliberately looked for high quality, international players in key positions and in John, we believe we've got it absolutely right," Ulster director of rugby David Humphreys said in a statement on Wednesday. Financial details were not released.
The 27-year-old Afoa said he'd been looking for a new setting, as he'd played his entire first-class career for Auckland and the Blues since 2002.
"I can't help but be impressed at how the Ulster squad is developing," he said. "There seems to be a good mix of local and overseas players and I'm very much looking forward to playing my part in that."