Johann van Graan set to pickpocket former club Munster

Bath boss Johann van Graan is being linked with a return to his former club Munster for attack coach Mike Prendergast as he looks to bolster the coaching ticket at the Gallagher PREM champions.

Former scrum-half Prendergast, 48, who had two spells as a player with Munster, is out of contract at the end of the season, and Van Graan wants to take him back to the West Country.

He spent the 2007–08 campaign with Gloucester after leaving French side Bourgoin, but returned to his native Limerick for a second spell before retiring to become the director of rugby at Young Munster.

Prendergast has spent the bulk of his coaching career in France, on the staff of Grenoble, Oyonnax, Stade Francais and Racing 92, where he worked closely with Bath’s Scotland and Lions fly-half Finn Russell.

He returned to Munster in 2022 to work under Graham Rowntree and helped them win the United Rugby Championship at the end of his first season.

He threw his hat in the ring when Rowntree left last season after being placed in interim charge, but missed out to Clayton McMillan when he left the Chiefs after a four-year stint to take the Munster job.

Bath have been looking for a permanent attack coach since Lee Blackett left at the end of September to join England boss Steve Borthwick, following Richard Wigglesworth’s move across to become defensive guru.

Blackett successfully auditioned for the job on the summer tour of Argentina and the United States, and was replaced by former Great Britain and England league star Martin Gleeson on a short-term contract.

Gleeson has, however, been told that his contract won’t be renewed and is now looking at his options, while Bath have been showing an interest in former Harlequins fly-half Nick Evans.

Former All Black Evans, 48, joined the Quins staff in 2017 after spending nine years playing at the Twickenham Stoop, but Prendergast has emerged as the favourite for the job.