Ireland are poised to announce a new head coach to take them into the end-of-season World Cup after announcing the departure of Stuart Littler.

Littler, a former Ireland international who is currently part-time coach of League 1 club Oldham, succeeded Mark Aston in September 2018 and guided the Irish through qualifying for the 2021 World Cup.

The tournament was postponed for 12 months and Ireland have decided to change coaches, with an appointment set to be announced on Monday.

In a statement issued yesterday, Rugby League Ireland (RLI) board chairman Jim Reynolds said: “Effective on Tuesday March 29th 2022, Stuart Littler ceased to be head coach of our senior men’s squad following a week of discussions with him.

“We would emphasise that this event in no way diminishes the sincere high esteem that Stuart is, and will always be, held in by RLI after his illustrious playing and coaching career with Ireland. We especially mention his 19 senior caps over a 10-year playing career that saw him score 40 points and we thank him for steering us through qualification for RLWC2021 as head coach.

“RLI has decided to go in a different coaching direction in this run up to competing in RLWC2021 later this year and shall be issuing another update on our coaching team on Monday. We wish Stuart the very best of luck and success for the future in his teaching and rugby league coaching careers.”