One of Australia's most talented coaches, Millard has worked with some of rugby's greatest players in his time as the head coach for the national Sevens side, head coach of Sydney University and head coach of the Melbourne Rebels.

Players such as scrum half Luke Burgess, full-back Ashley Cooper, wingers Drew Mitchell and Digby Ioane and wonder kid James O'Connor have all benefited from Billy's coaching expertise.

Millard led the powerful Sydney University club to back-to-back Premiership titles in 2005 and 2006, then took the Melbourne Rebels to the Grand final of the Australian Rugby Championship.

He has most recently been working with the Cardiff Blues and in his time there the Welsh side reached the quarter-final and semi-final stages of the Heineken Cup and lifted both the EDF Energy Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Speaking about the move to Galway, Millard said: "I'm really looking forward to joining Connacht. It is a very exciting time for both me and the province as Connacht head into their first season of Heineken Cup rugby.

"I look forward to working with Eric Elwood and the rest of the coaching team in helping to develop the squad for the season to come"

Connacht team manager Tim Allnutt was equally as pleased, stating: "We are very happy to have Billy joining us next season.

"He comes with a great pedigree of coaching and a proven track record of success both nationally with Australia and within Europe having been involved with the Cardiff Blues for a number of very successful seasons."