Callard Joins Coaching Casualties

Jon Callard yesterday became the sixth Premiership coaching casualty of the season when he left struggling Bath after refusing to accept a demotion.

Rugby union has started down the path well trodden in football of rewarding failure with the sack. Half the clubs in the English top division have changed head coaches since the start of the season and, with the exception of Gloucester, all have done so after finding themselves at the wrong end of the table.

Callard resigned after refusing to remain at the club in a subordinate role to the former Australia hooker Michael Foley, appointed Bath's assistant coach and Callard's No2 in December.

Callard, who took over from Andy Robinson in June 2000, asked to be released from his contract rather than lose rank. "The club and I had a difference of opinion about the way we should go forward," he said last night. "It has been agreed by both parties to go our separate ways. My time at Bath has been fantastic and I wish the club well for the future."

"We are looking to appoint both a director of rugby and a commercial director," said the Bath owner Andrew Brown-sword. "Jon Callard has made a major contribution to Bath as a player and a coach and we wish him all the best."

Callard, who won five England caps as a full-back, has ended a 14-year association with Bath, the crowning moment of which came in 1998 when he scored all his side's 19 points against Brive in the 1998 Heineken Cup final as they became the first English club to win the trophy.

Bath finished third in the Premiership last season, Callard's first in charge, but they have not been out of the bottom half of the table this campaign after losing their first four matches.

Success in the group stage of the Heineken Cup took some of the pressure off Callard but despite home advantage they lost 27-10 to Llanelli in the quarter-finals having been eliminated from the Powergen Cup the previous month at home to London Irish.

The club which was the dominant force in the English game in the 80s and for the first half of the 90s now has only a place in the play-offs to play for while relegation remains a threat.

Callard's departure means that six new head coaches have been appointed in the Premiership in the past three months. He may be interested to know that his former club Newport are likely to be in the market for a new head coach if Ian McIntosh turns down the offer of a new contract.

The launch of the 2003 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Sydney on Tuesday week, has been postponed after the failure of the organisers to reach an agreement with the co-hosts New Zealand.

Ins and outs

This season:

Northampton In: Wayne Smith. Out: John Steele (moved upstairs)

Gloucester In: Nigel Melville. Out: Philippe Saint-André (mutual consent)

Wasps In: Warren Gatland. Out: Nigel Melville (resigned)

Harlequins In: Mark Evans. Out: John Kingston (demoted)

Saracens In: no appointment yet. Out: Francois Pienaar (post-dated resignation)

Bath In: Michael Foley. Out: Jon Callard (resigned)

Last summer: Sale In: Jim Mallinder. Out: Glen Ross

London Irish In: Brendan Venter. Out: Dick Best

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