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Hooper survives as Bath only give van Graan the head coach role
Bath have confirmed that ex-Springboks assistant Johann van Graan will join them next season from Munster, but he will only become head coach in place of Neal Hatley rather than take over the director of rugby role currently occupied by Stuart Hooper – who welcomed the recruitment of the South African. There was a feeling that Hooper’s future at the club was under a cloud after he oversaw a brutal winless start to the 2021/22 season that has rooted them to last place in the Gallagher Premiership while they also endured a European hammering last weekend at Leinster.
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However, while CEO Tarquin McDonald has explained that van Graan “will hold full responsibility for our game”, it appears he will do so with Hooper remaining on at the club as the Bath director of rugby. Van Graan confirmed on Tuesday that he had handed in his notice at Munster, rebuffing their two-year contract extension offer. That development was accompanied by the news later that day that Brent Janse van Rensburg had been appointed as defence coach through to the end of the season.
The busy week has now continued into Wednesday with the confirmation of van Graan’s arrival – but it hasn’t come at the expense of Hooper, who has been in the director of rugby role since 2019. A statement read: “Bath is proud to announce the appointment of Johann van Graan as head coach for the 2022/23 season on a long-term contract.
“The former Springboks forwards coach and current Munster head coach will join Bath for the 2022/23 season having served five successful years with the United Rugby Championship side. Neal Hatley will continue as head coach through to the end of the 2021/22 season leading the coaching group, which includes Brent Janse van Rensburg in the role of defence coach for the 2021/22 season.
“Following his appointment, van Graan will be able to draw on significant expertise from the current coaching group. Specific roles and responsibilities will be communicated in due course.”
'It’s ten Ls now on the bounce for the English side and six minutes of listening to Stuart Hooper and Charlie Ewels in Dublin left you wondering if this duo is in denial about the crisis their club is in' @heagneyl ???#BathRugby #LEIvBAT https://t.co/Gn6HlgJCxA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 12, 2021
CEO McDonald added: “We have huge ambition at Bath. Johann is a world-class coach who will play a fundamental role in our future success. He will hold full responsibility for our game focussed on delivering winning performances. I am delighted to announce this appointment and look forward to welcoming Johann and his family to Bath this summer.”
Director of rugby Hooper said: “Johann is a phenomenal coach with a proven track record of developing teams to be successful on the pitch. He has experienced winning rugby environments at the very highest level of the game and knows exactly what it takes. We have an outstanding and committed group of players and staff here at the club. Johann’s experience will add significantly to this.”
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Van Graan added: “I am hugely excited for the opportunity to join Bath for the 2022/23 season. I see huge potential in this club, the players, coaches and staff. I am coming to Bath to work with everyone, and to achieve great success with everyone at the club. This is an exciting next step for me as a coach, and for my family in moving to a proud club and a true rugby city.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments