Piutau joins Wasps

London - New Zealand international Charles Piutau signed a one-season contract with English Premiership club Wasps on Thursday after the being left out of his country's squad for the World Cup.

Piutau will join Celtic League side Ulster next July, but they aren't able to include him in their squad for this current campaign as their foreign allocation is full.

And when the 23-year-old missed out on a place in the All-Blacks' final 31-man squad for the World Cup, which gets underway next week, Piutau opted to play for Wasps in 2015-16.

"When the opportunity arose to play for Wasps I was excited. It's a club with a proud history and one that has recruited very well over the last few seasons," Piutau told Wasps' website.

"I know Alapati Leiua from NZ and am looking forward to playing with him, as well as continuing to play alongside Frank Halai who I have played a lot of rugby with.

"I have also heard great things about playing at the Ricoh Arena and the crowd support there and I look forward to making a contribution to what will hopefully be a very successful season."

Piutau, who can play at full-back, wing or centre, previously played for Auckland Blues and has been capped 17 times for New Zealand after making his international debut against France in June 2013.

Later that year he scored his first international points with two tries against Japan in Tokyo in November before scoring again against the French in a 26-19 win in Paris a week later.

The last of his five All Blacks tries came in July during a 39-18 Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Christchurch.

Wasps' Director of Rugby Dai Young added: "The opportunity arose for us to sign Charles and we jumped at the chance.

"His addition will bolster the strong recruitment we've already made for the new season, complementing the talented squad we already have in place."