Redpath remains as head coach in shake-up at Sale

Thursday 1 November 2012

Sale Sharks have confirmed their former rugby director Bryan Redpath will remain at the club as part of a revamped coaching staff.

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Redpath's new role was announced yesterday by Sale owner Brian Kennedy as head coach, barely 24 hours after confirmation of his removal from the rugby director's position.

Redpath will additionally be part of a newly formed rugby strategy management board that also comprises Kennedy, Steve Diamond, the Sale chief executive, John Mitchell the club's former head coach and the former New Zealand, plus businessman Ian Blackhurst.

Diamond confirmed yesterday that he will be in charge of the team for the remainder of the season.Sale are currently bottom of the Aviva Premiership following seven successive league defeats. They have collected just two losing bonus points and are eight points adrift of London Irish, their next opponents at Salford City Stadium tomorrow night.Kennedy said: "We are delighted to announce that Bryan Redpath will be taking on the role of head coach of Sale Sharks as from today.His four-year contract that commenced this year will stay in force."Sale Sharks have formed a rugby strategy management board which will meet regularly to devise and review the long-term rugby strategy. This board will be chaired by Brian Kennedy and consist of the following members: Ian Blackhurst, Steve Diamond, John Mitchell and Bryan Redpath."The priority of all the management within Sale Sharks is to get back to winning ways and secure our position in the Premiership. We believe that we have the playing and coaching talent and structure to achieve this. Beyond this we must plan medium- and long-term to compete at the top of the game, and this will be the remit of the strategy board."Mitchell, the former England assistant coach, has been linked with a return to Sale for some time.He watched their most recent games, including last Friday's narrow Premiership defeat against Worcester, and he has been working with the club as a consultant. The 48-year-old is now back in South Africa, where he is engaged in a legal wrangle with the Johannesburg-based club Golden Lions.Mitchell led them to Currie Cup success a year ago, but he was suspended in June following complaints from Lions players about how he treated them.Once that issue is resolved, though, it would be no surprise if Mitchell assumed a senior role at Sale.Diamond said yesterday: "The situation is that after a lot of poor results we have asked Bryan just to take a little bit of time out, a couple of days off to reconsider what we are doing and how we restructure our rugby department."We want him to be involved moving forward. He is contracted for a long time after making a big move from Gloucester and we want him to be involved."We just need to get the balance of that right, and it clearly isn't right [judging] by our results, so we just want to change it around a little bit to make sure we get the most out of our resources in the coaching – myself, Bryan and John Mitchell."Redpath took over at Sale in June, signing a four-year deal after leaving Gloucester following a run of poor results.However, despite making some big-name signings, including Danny Cipriani and Richie Gray, Sale are currently firm relegation favourites with a third of the Premiership season having elapsed.They have recorded a solitary victory from nine starts in all competitions this term, beating only Heineken Cup opponents Cardiff Blues earlier this month.

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Redpath remains as head coach in shake-up at Sale

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