The Top 10 current PREM/URC bosses by win percentage

While Mark McCall’s time as Saracens Director of Rugby is drawing to a close, the Irishman still has at least two games, possibly four, to reach a remarkable 300-win milestone in PREM/EPCR games.

Play-off contenders Saracens host Harlequins in their penultimate game of the regular PREM season this Saturday, before travelling down to Devon to take on top-four rivals Exeter on the final weekend. Victory there could ensure Saracens’ season continues for at least one more game, with a place in the final still a possibility.

It would be a remarkable achievement for McCall if he were to bring up the triple century, a feat matched only by Dean Richards, as all of those wins have come at one club.

But where does that place him amongst the current PREM/URC Directors of Rugby/Head Coaches in terms of win percentages, 15 seasons into his reign at the North London outfit?

PREM trio Geoff Parling (Leicester), Jason Gilmore (Harlequins) and Stephen Jones (Newcastle) did not qualify because they haven’t yet reached 30 games in charge, while seven of the 16 URC bosses – Johan Ackermann (Bulls), Clayton McMillan (Munster), Cornelis van Zhyl (Cardiff), JP Pietersen (Sharks), Stuart Lancaster (Connacht), Mark Jones (Ospreys) and Calum MacRae (Benetton) – have yet to meet the threshold, either.

Top 10 bosses by win% (URC/PREM/EPCR):

10. Sean Everitt (48.1%)
Most Edinburgh fans weren’t impressed when the South African’s contract was extended earlier this year, despite what has been a difficult and injury-hit campaign. Everitt just edges out Ivan van Rooyen of the Lions from making the Top 10 (47.9%).

9. Alex Sanderson – Sale Sharks (51%)
Another DoR feeling the heat after a season of massive under-achievement, which included a frightful hammering at the hands of Saracens. Previous successes keep Sanderson’s win record above 50% … just.

8. Pat Lam – Bristol Bears (54.4%)
Another coach whose future has been called into question with the playoffs now looking beyond the Bears. Shipping 90 points at Northampton only saw those calls for his head grow louder, but until this season, Lam’s reign has been viewed fairly positively, especially with the exciting brand of rugby they play.

7. Rob Baxter – Exeter Chiefs (58.1%)
Baxter’s numbers don’t do him justice. Like McCall, Baxter is a ‘One-Club Man’ who masterminded Exeter’s promotion to the PREM in 2010 and has kept them there ever since, slowly but surely turning them into a force in the English game, with two league titles and a Champions Cup bagged along the way.

6. John Dobson – Stormers (62.5%)
Dobson has won 65 of his 104 games at the helm, initially as head coach and then DoR since 2024. He still has credit in the bank after leading the South African franchise to the inaugural URC title in 2022, as evidenced by the four-year contract extension awarded to him earlier this year.

5. Johann van Graan – Bath (63.4%)
‘In JvG we Trust’ has become a popular banner at The Rec, where after a slow start rebuilding a broken side, van Graan has turned Bath into winners. Take out of the first half of his initial season in charge in 2022/23, and the South African would have one of the best records around.

4. Phil Dowson – Northampton (63.7%)
Even when Saints mounted a limp title defence in 2024/25, they still managed to reach the final of the Champions Cup. There have been far more up than down periods during the likeable Dowson’s time at Franklin’s Gardens, which saw them crowned champions of England in 2024.

3. Franco Smith – Glasgow Warriors (68.4%)
Touted as the obvious candidate to replace Gregor Townsend as Scotland boss if and when that time arrives. Having reached the EPCR Challenge Cup Final at the end of his first season at the helm, Smith then led Glasgow Warriors to an against-the-odds URC title win in 2024.

2. Mark McCall – Saracens (70.2%)
McCall will transition into a new role of Technical Director once this season is over with his head held high. The quietly-spoken Irishman has carried himself with dignity throughout what has been a rollercaster ride, with the highs of multiple trophies won mixed with the lows of the salary cap scandal and relegation to the Champ. To have won 70% of his games over such a long period of time is quite remarkable.

1. Leo Cullen – Leinster (73.8%)
Cullen has presided over the most successful period in the province’s history, while winning nearly three-quarters of his games in charge (178/241), yet it is the losses that people are starting to focus on, especially after the Champions Cup final hiding handed to them by Bordeaux. Critics point to the fact that Leinster is a defacto Ireland team in blue, and that trophies should be a given. And that noise won’t go away until their eight-year wait for a fifth Champions Cup win comes to an end, no matter how dominant they’ve been in the URC.