Nutbrown, a former Super 12 winner with Canterbury Crusaders, has spent the last three seasons at Waikato Chiefs and is also the current Bay of Plenty captain.

Ospreys chiefs are moving quickly to fill the gap left by Nutbrown’s fellow New Zealander Justin Marshall, who recently left the Swansea-based outfit and joined French club Montpellier.

Nutbrown, 27, has agreed in principle a two-year deal with the Ospreys.

He has 12 months remaining on his existing New Zealand Rugby Union contract, although talks are under way in New Zealand for the Ospreys to secure his early release ahead of their Magners League campaign.

Ospreys elite performance director Andrew Hore, who is currently in New Zealand, said: “We are hopeful that we will shortly be able to confirm the signing of Jamie Nutbrown.

“He is a highly-rated scrum-half who has been on the verge of a call-up to the All Blacks squad on a number of occasions, as recently as this summer’s Tri-Nations.”