Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read will pull on the red, black and white hoops for Counties Manukau in the Mitre 10 Cup this year.
Read retired from Test rugby after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and signed to play with Toyota Verblitz. He will return to Japan to continue that contract after the Mitre 10 Cup campaign.
A product of the Counties Manukau region, and Rosehill College, Read began his rugby with the Drury club and once completing his schooling he signed with the Crusaders in Super Rugby.
"While I played a lot of my representative rugby in Christchurch, my roots will always be in Counties Manukau," he said.
"I remember going along to games in Pukekohe as a kid, and while I've aligned with the province in recent years, my All Blacks commitments have meant I've never had the chance to pull on the red, black and white hoops.
"I'm excited about the upcoming season and about the prospect of playing provincial rugby in front of my family at friends in the community I grew up in," he said.
The Counties Manukau team will have a team camp in Ohope with a pre-season game against Bay of Plenty in Whakatane on September 4.
"It's been a while since I've had a run. So, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in again," he said.
Counties Manukau chief executive Aaron Lawton said Read's signing was one of many positives to emerge from the Covid-19 interrupted season.
One of the outcomes had been a resurgence of interest in rugby.
"It's also meant some amazingly talented rugby players have found themselves back in New Zealand and itching to play.
"Never in a million years would we have thought at the start of the year when we were beginning to put together our squad that a player of Kieran's calibre would be available," he said.