LEON Holden wants to be the next in the line of influential Kiwis at Wasps.

The assistant coach and technical analyst wants to follow in the footsteps of Wasps legend Warren Gatland, who led the club to triple Premiership success and a Heineken Cup triumph before returning to his native New Zealand.

Gatland and fellow Kiwis Tony Hanks and All Black prop Craig Dowd have left a legacy at the club and Holden reckons he can do the same.

The 34-year-old said: "I think I can come in with a different angle on things and offer Ian McGeechan and Shaun Edwards some fresh ideas in areas like team building and organisation.

"I think the more constructive ideas there are in the pot, the better and I'm sure that Ian and I can work well together in areas like these."

"It's a great opportunity for me, to work with this team of coaches.

"Throughout my whole coaching career to date, I've been the head coach, so I've never had the opportunity to observe and watch and listen to others around me.

"Therefore to work with people like Ian McGeechan, with his pedigree, and Shaun, whose league background brings with it different strategies, is going to be awesome.

"I knew what sort of set up I was coming to however, as I came over to Wasps two years ago, on a high performance coaching scholarship.

"I picked up a lot from that visit, not least on the defensive approach that Shaun had introduced, and from then on I always kept an eye on Wasps' progress.

"I'm looking forward to working with Shaun again, to see how both of our ideas on defence have evolved over the last two years."

Holden began coaching at 26 after a knee injury forced him to retire.

And it's been success after success for him after winning two coach of the year awards at Waikato and a stint in Japan.

Meanwhile, the Wasps job will see him link again with full back Mark van Gisbergen, who started his career at Waikato but can qualify for England in the Autumn.

Holden said: "It will also be good to link back up with Mark Van Gisbergen, who I first coached back in New Zealand when he was about 17.

"Gizzy was in the first team I ever coached."