Hatley promoted to Bath head coach role

Neal Hatley has been appointed head coach of Bath ahead of the resumption of the Premiership season.

Hatley returned to Bath last year after three and a half years working under Eddie Jones as England scrum coach.

He initially took the role of forwards and defence coach, but his promotion was confirmed on Thursday.

Hatley said: “When I rejoined Bath, Stuart [director of rugby Hooper] was very clear about what we are trying to do at the club. Now as head coach at Bath, I’m responsible for field performance.

“With my focus on delivering great performances on the pitch, it allows Stuart to focus on how we want to play and perform, making sure we are doing what we discussed in training and optimising everything we do.

“As head coach, I want to make sure I get the best out of our players and that’s a lot about building relationships, knowing they trust your leadership. I’ve set out very clearly how I expect our players to behave, how I expect them to train and how we expect to treat each other.

“Not only is Bath an incredible city to live in but it’s a rugby city through and through. I feel incredibly proud to be head coach at this club and believe me, we want to win silverware.”

Bath Rugby can today confirm the appointment of Neal Hatley as Head Coach.

— Bath Rugby (@bathrugby) August 13, 2020

Hooper said: “We’re thrilled to confirm Neal as head coach. The director of rugby and head coach set-up has always been the route I want to follow. I believe it’s the right way to get the best out of our people.

“Bringing Neal back into our environment was about reconnecting, finding out how I can complement him, how he can complement me and how we can deliver the best programme here at the club.”

Bath face London Irish at the Rec on Saturday in their first match since the season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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