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SANZAR, the joint venture between the rugby unions of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, has announced the appointment of Andy Marinos as the organisation's Chief Executive.

The South African, who previously served as SANZAR Chief Executive between 2008 and 2010, brings a wealth of business and rugby experience to the role, both as an administrator and professional player.

Marinos re-joins SANZAR from the South African Rugby Union (SARU) where he has served as General Manager of Commercial & Marketing for the past five years, in addition to SARU acting Managing Director and Board Member (2008 to 2010), Springbok Team Manager (2008), Manager of South African National Teams (2005 to 2010) and World Rugby Sevens Advisory Group (2008 to 2015).

As a player, Marinos (pictured above) represented the Natal Sharks and Sevens (1991 to 1995), Western Province, Stormers and Sevens (1997 to 1999) and Newport RFC and Newport Dragons (1999 to 2004) where he would later serve as Chief Executive throughout 2004 and 2005, as well as sitting on the Board of the Welsh Rugby Union during the same period.

He earned eight Test caps for Wales as well as playing rugby league where he would represent the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the South African Rhinos.

In accepting his new position, Marinos stated "I'm incredibly proud to have been given the responsibility of leading the ongoing growth and prosperity of Southern Hemisphere rugby.

"We are about to embark upon an exciting new expansion that will see us deliver the game to more countries, fans and commercial markets than ever before.

“The impressive performance of our four national teams at the recent Rugby World Cup was pleasing but the challenge for us is to not only ensure they remain at the top, but that we keep working to raise the bar even further both in terms of high performance and commercial success.

"I thank the Board for its confidence in me and look forward to commencing with this talented and dedicated team in the New Year."

Former Sanzar Chief Executive Greg Peters resigned the role earlier this year to oversee Argentina rugby.

Marinos will formally begin his new role on 1st January 2016.

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