ALAN SOLOMONS HAS stepped down from his role as Edinburgh head coach with immediate effect just four games into the new season.
The 66-year-old leaves the Scottish side after three years at the helm, with former international Duncan Hodge taking over as acting head coach.
Edinburgh, who have won just one of their first four Pro12 outings, travel to Galway to face Connacht on Friday evening.
“I have greatly enjoyed working with the players and coaches and feel I have helped to put the club on a much stronger footing over the past three years and am leaving it in a better place than when I arrived,” Solomons said.
The South African coach took over the reins from ex-Ireland international Michael Bradley in 2013 and helped stabilise the club at a time of difficultly both on and off the pitch.
He led the Murrayfield outfit to the 2015 Challenge Cup final but their progress in the Pro12 has been disappointing with Solomons presiding over two eighth-place and a ninth-place finish.
Although their campaign got up and running with victory over Scarlets on the second weekend, heavy defeats to Cardiff, Leinster and Munster appear to have forced Solomons’ hand.
Hodge, a 26-capped Scottish out-half and attack coach under Solomons, has been installed as his temporary replacement with his first assignment against winless Connacht this weekend.
He will be forced to plan without Duncan Weir for the foreseeable future after the out-half underwent surgery on a fractured jaw he sustained in the defeat to Munster last Saturday.
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