South African coach opens up on ‘unpleasant’ Bath exit after assistant ‘went behind his back’

Former USA head coach and Springboks assistant Gary Gold has revisited his exit from English Premiership club Bath.

After assisting Peter de Villiers with the Springboks at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Gold returned to England after a previous stint at London Irish.

He initially served as Newcastle’s interim head coach before taking over at the Rec as Bath’s head coach and not too long after becoming the director of rugby.

Gary Gold’s Bath departure

However, his stint with the West Country club did not last long as he was dismissed and left the side in a ‘restructuring’ during the 2013/14 season.

The decision’s timing left many puzzled as Bath were just six points adrift of?Premiership leaders Saracens at the time after winning five of their seven matches.

Mike Ford took over from Gold with many believing that the ex-rugby league international upstaged the South African and convinced Bath’s owner Bruce Craig to dismiss the ex-Springboks assistant and install him as his replacement.

Ford was dismissed a year later after reports of inappropriate management of players and staff, with ex-England international Sam Burgess accusing him of using him as a ‘pawn’ to get the England head coach role after the 2015 World Cup.

Gold has now revisited his departure from Bath in a recent appearance on the Boks Office podcast.

The now Bulls assistant coach did not name Ford specifically but reflected on the events that occurred in 2012 after weighing in on Leon MacDonald’s departure from Scott Robertson’s All Blacks coaching team.

“It didn’t end well, a bit of an unfortunate situation,” Gold said of his time at Bath.

“It’s probably the reason why you hear so often when coaches get a position, one of the things they insist on is bringing in their own people.

“I was able to do that at Bath as well and took a couple of really good guys with me and unfortunately took a guy who was ambitious.

“He was very ambitious and that’s fine as well, and a very good coach.”

“He went behind your back”

Former Springboks head coach Nick Mallett added: “It’s not really fine. Gary, he went behind your back, spoke to the owner and undermined you. It’s not pleasant.

“I know you can’t be critical but I think there should be a certain loyalty amongst coaches that if someone has given you the opportunity to come and coach a team, and he’s the head coach or the director of rugby, you respect that until the end of his contract.

“When the end of his contract comes, you go to him first – he’s the one who gave you the job – not to the owner, to say: ‘I’m definitely the right guy for this job’.”

Gold explained that he would have appreciated a discussion with coaches if they aren’t in agreement with him over tactics.

“The other thing is come to me, let’s have a sit down with me and say: ‘I don’t enjoy working with you anymore, this is what I think is wrong, this is what I think is right. Let’s part ways amicably and this is what I want to do. I think I can do a better job than you,'” he added.

“At least you know where you stand and I don’t see that as stabbing anybody [in the back], I see that as mutual disagreement.

“That’s definitely going to happen in the world of rugby, and it does often. It’s just the way you go about doing things, which wasn’t pleasant.

“It hurts and it’s not good. A lot of people do go through that but it’s not pleasant.”

READ MORE:?Ollie Lawrence denies ‘cheating’ accusations after alleged simulation against Northampton