Hooper confirmed as Bath DOR and he's brought in international experience
Bath have confirmed the appointment of Stuart Hooper as Director of Rugby, to replace the departing Todd Blackadder.
Hooper will also lead the rugby department.
In a statement Bath Rugby said: “Hooper’s appointment follows a clear process of thought and consideration by Bath Rugby, a process which affirmed the view that he is the right person to lead the Club into the future. As Director of Rugby Hooper will provide strength, leadership and a clear direction for the coaching team and squad to provide greater consistency of performance to underpin domestic and European success.
Bath have added England scrum coach Neal Hatley to the coaching tam, he’ll return to the club following the Rugby World Cup and will become the Forwards and Defence Coach. He will link up with the club no later than November 9th.
Former Leinster and Ireland full-back Girvan Dempsey continues as Attack and Backs Coach.
The Bath statement also added: “Hatley brings a wealth of coaching experience and knowledge of high performing environments during his time with England. The development of Bath Rugby’s players and its game will be significantly benefited by the strength and quality of Hatley’s skills and track record of developing world class players, and driving the performance of a forward pack, to win games at the very highest level.
“Hatley’s work to build the Club’s defensive game will be aligned with the attributes and expertise of Dempsey. A true scholar of the game with an exceptional attacking mind, Dempsey will continue to drive the growth of Bath’s attacking game in order to achieve the type of success that Dempsey and Hatley have both enjoyed with Leinster and England.
Both Hatley and Dempsey will be joined by Luke Charteris who will embark on a new career with the Club as a specialist line-out coach.
Hooper spoke about his new role: “I feel an immense amount of passion and pride for the Club and for Bath as a city, I will do everything in my power to get this great Club back to winning trophies. Our players are exceptional, the group we have assembled to wear the blue, black and white next season is filled with young men desperate to make memories together, for themselves, their families and for those who support us week in week out. My task is to ensure my team and I give the players every opportunity to get better, to learn and to grow every single day.
“We are on a journey right now and we have a lot to do, it will not be easy but we will work hard and we will enjoy it.”
Tarquin McDonald, Bath Rugby’s Chief Executive added: “Stuart, Neal, Girvan and Andy will lead our rugby department strategically and build on the strong foundations already in place as we look to create a world-leading environment here at Bath.
“We are building a system based on who we are, how we play, how we train, and how we develop. These four pillars are underpinned by a clear focus on our standards and developing a deep level of trust within the organisation and its people. We have an exceptional playing group and staff and we want to equip them, develop them individually and collectively to deliver winning performances.
“We will always be judged on the 80 minutes each weekend, but the level of rigour that surrounds the design of our rugby department and training programme is what we believe will deliver consistent performances and successful results.”
Pathway coaches Ryan Davis and Mark Lilley will also progress their roles moving into 2019/20, placing more emphasis not only upon the support and development of the senior academy players in the Club’s 1st XV environment, but also adding significant coaching resource around its first team squad on a day-to-day basis. In this capacity, Davis will support Dempsey on specific areas of attack and skills coaching; Lilley will coach technical areas around the scrum and maul, supporting Hatley and working with Charteris.
Pierre-Henry Broncan will continue to develop his role as Head of Strategic Analysis and Scouting. Broncan will support the Club’s rugby department though his work within analysis across the game, and through his insights into trends, tactics and team approaches and how this integrates into the planning and performance of Bath’s first team programme.
Andy Rock is confirmed in the role of Performance Director. Rock will lead an inter-disciplinary approach to programme design and will bring each function of the performance department together to optimally support the rugby programme, aligning all staff working within Sports Science, Strength and Conditioning, and Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy.
As Performance Director, Rock will work closely with the coaching team in the planning process to ensure that every minute of time on the training field is maximised, and to support the alignment of training approaches and training methods across departments to positively influence the way that Bath Rugby play.
The recent appointment of Craig Lilley as Academy Manager will build on the work of Andy Rock over the last three years as Bath Rugby continue to target a 50% homegrown squad by 2023.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments