All Blacks prop Greg Somerville will join Gloucester on a two-and-a-half year contract in December after agreeing a move from Canterbury Crusaders.

A fierce scrummager, Somerville can play as a loose-head or a tight-head and has 59 caps for New Zealand.

Coach Dean Ryan hailed the signing of the 30-year-old, who will play out the remainder of his current side's domestic season before arriving at Kingsholm.

"The market is now making players of Greg's experience, calibre and undoubted expertise available and once we appreciated his interest and desire to add significantly to our squad, we were thrilled to sign him," Ryan said

"To have represented the All Blacks in more than 50 Test matches and be versatile to operate on either side of the scrum, means he is an outstanding acquisition for us at this stage of his career."