FORMER Otley star Nigel Melville believes he will move to Twickenham's corridors of power at a "very buoyant time" for English rugby.

Melville, whose previous jobs included rugby director roles at Premiership clubs Wasps and Gloucester, will be responsible for professional rugby in England for the Rugby Football Union, with particular focus around managing relationships with Premiership Rugby, the English qualified player scheme, the EPS (elite player squad) agreement and the academy system.

He will succeed Rob Andrew as the RFU's director of professional rugby. Andrew's 10-year Twickenham stint, during which time he held a number of senior roles, will finish at the end of this season after his resignation was announced on Friday.

Melville takes up the post following a highly successful spell as USA Rugby chief executive.

"I would like to thank USA Rugby for their support, and I am very proud of what has been achieved in the organisation and the game in the US over the last decade," former England scrum-half and captain Melville said.

"I feel I am leaving USA Rugby in a very strong place to continue the growth it has experienced in recent years and keep improving internationally.

"However, I am now hugely excited about this opportunity to join England Rugby in what is a very buoyant time.

"This year already, the men have claimed the Grand Slam, the domestic game has continued to thrive, the Under-20s are looking to win the World Rugby U20 Junior World Championship in Manchester, and the men and women will compete in the sevens competition at the Olympics in Rio for the first time ever."

Andrew's departure from English rugby HQ is the latest development during a season that saw England become the first host nation in World Cup history to make a pool-stage exit – a failure which resulted in head coach Stuart Lancaster leaving – before Lancaster's successor Eddie Jones masterminded Six Nations title glory and a first Grand Slam since 2003.

Andrew previously held RFU posts that included rugby operations director and elite director of rugby.

But he also had many critics during his Twickenham tenure, particularly following a dismal 2011 World Cup campaign in New Zealand under Martin Johnson's management that was scarred by off-field controversy - as had been the case during England's 2008 New Zealand tour, which Andrew led in Johnson's absence.

Many dubbed former England fly-half Andrew "the great survivor", while others regularly trotted out his nickname "squeaky" as in squeaky clean, but he was also a pivotal player in helping to crucially thrash out long-term agreement between the RFU and its top clubs.

Andrew has agreed to continue working on completing the latest agreement with Premiership Rugby that will run through until after the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

"After 10 years at the RFU and with the impending conclusion of the second heads of agreement, it feels like the right time to step down at the end of the season," he said.

"My role has primarily been to set up a structure that would ultimately deliver long-term success to England through a pipeline of talented players coming through the academy system.

"Bringing together the clubs to support the new academy scheme required recognition from the RFU to reward them to bring on successful academy players, and I believe we have achieved this.

"The pipeline is going from strength to strength, and I believe will deliver Eddie Jones and his coaches the world-class players that England need to ensure increasing success going forward."