Bath will not bring in replacement for kicking ace Callard
Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan has confirmed that the club won’t be hiring a new kicking coach to replace Jon Callard.
Club legend Callard worked two days a week for the beaten Premiership finalists, travelling back and forth from his home in Harrogate to the West Country, but was cut from the coaching team at the end of last season.
Finn Russell landed 21 consecutive kicks during the Six Nations having struggled for accuracy in the first half of the season at Bath, but van Graan hinted that the decision to dispense with Bath’s 1998 European Cup-winning hero was down to cost-cutting rather than performance.
New Responsibilities
“That (kicking coaching) will be handled within, by JP (Ferreira) and Lee (Blackett), a lot of kickers are individualised,” the South African said.
“JC did a brilliant job for us, he is good rugby man and a great club man and he made a real difference from the start to where we are now.
“In this day and age you have to make decisions on various bits so, ja, I wish him the very best.”
Callard’s departure is the only change to the coaching team with Ferreira (defence), Blackett (attack), Richard Blaze (forwards), Andy Robinson (breakdown) and Stevie Scott (scrum) all still in place.
The turnover of players hasn’t been that high, either, with the only notable leavers being full-back Matt Gallagher and former captain Josh McNally.
“We have continuity among the coaching group now, continuity among staff and players, and hopefully we can become better this year,” van Graan said.
“Ultimately we would like to win something. We said at the start, you can never predict that, so all we can do is train well and train hard and enjoy each other’s company and we have certainly done that in pre-season.”
