The 36-year-old, who has signed a three-year deal, has plenty of experience of the competition, having played six seasons in it for Gloucester Rugby, Sale Sharks and Edinburgh Rugby, making 18 appearances.

His best season was 2014/15, when the 58-Test forward played six games as Edinburgh reached the final, only to be beaten 19-13 by Gloucester at Twickenham Stoop.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told the club website: “Alasdair is a young coach with huge ability and a hunger to develop himself into a world-class scrum coach. He’s played at the very highest level and has a detailed understanding of the set-piece and how it can be a destructive weapon for the team.”

Altogether, Dickinson played 47 European games before retiring in 2018, since when he has been serving as scrum coach with the Scottish Rugby Union, working with Scotland Women, Scotland Under-20s and the Scottish Rugby Academies.

He said: “The opportunity to join a club like Bristol is massive for me and I’m grateful to Pat for putting his faith in me. I’ve been impressed by the environment and vision of the Bears, and clearly everything is in place for the club to push forward over the next few years.

“The quality of the Bears forward unit - with a blend of experience and really exciting young players - is outstanding and I’m looking forward to working with the group, continuing to develop that pack mentality and helping to take Bears to the next level.”

As Bristol Bears build up to the European Rugby Challenge Cup quarter-finals and a home tie with Dragons in September, they have been boosted by the appointment of ex-Scotland prop Alasdair Dickinson as their new scrum coach.