Architect of Bath Rugby's glory years Jack Rowell passes away

Jack Rowell guided England to a Grand Slam and World Cup semi-final, but it was as the architect of Bath’s glory years that a rich career found its true calling. Rowell, who has died aged 87, possessed the highest win rate of any England coach until his mark of 72 percent spanning 29 Tests was eclipsed by Eddie Jones.

From his arrival at Bath in the summer of 1978 to his departure in 1994 to coach England, Rowell had overseen one of the most dominant eras in professional club rugby, with the Blue, Black and White collecting 13 trophies in ten seasons, missing out on just five.

Rowell, a towering 6’6 lock whose playing career was ended early by injury, talked of Bath as a “family” and it was during his progressive 16-year spell at the Recreation Ground that his fondest memories in rugby were created.

“Bath was a way of life for me. Each year we’d either win something or be seriously disappointed if we didn’t,” he said after stepping aside from rugby.

While his Twickenham alliance may have been among the shorter, lasting from 1994 to 1997, it came at a critical juncture for a game that turned professional in 1995, although Rowell had long since abandoned the orthodoxy of the amateur era.

A drawn series in South Africa opened his stewardship and the following year a Will Carling-led England completed the Five Nations Grand Slam. Rowell had inherited stalwarts of the Geoff Cooke era such as Carling, Jeremy Guscott and Dean Richards, but there were also many stars of the Bath dynasty he had created.

For the second Test against the Springboks, five players from the Recreation Ground were named in the starting XV and an additional five were present on the bench.

By the time the 1995 World Cup arrived, those numbers had thinned and Carling was still at the helm, revitalised by Rowell’s shrewd man-management. The Oxford University politics, philosophy and economics graduate was cantankerous and prickly, but he knew how to push the right buttons.

When controversy erupted, Rowell backed his skipper as Carling felt the furore of the Rugby Football Union, whose council he famously labelled “57 old farts”. Ignoring his apology, the RFU stripped him of the captaincy, prompting his team-mates to threaten revolt. Rowell disagreed with the timing of Carling’s comments but was not consulted over his demotion and expressed his shock at the pettiness of a decision that was reversed a mere two days later. Crisis had been averted.

A promising World Cup peaked with a last-gasp quarter-final victory over Australia because a round later England were flattened by New Zealand as Jonah Lomu went on the rampage in Cape Town.

Another Five Nations title followed in 1996 and a year later England finished second behind France but, despite his success, Hartlepool-born Rowell stepped down in August after declining to renew his contract.

Under pressure to upgrade from a part-time to full-time basis, he instead chose to focus on his distinguished business career which included chairmanships at a number of high-profile companies in the public and private sectors.

A whiff of acrimony accompanied his departure, with RFU administrators Bill Beaumont and Fran Cotton publicly courting Ian McGeechan as his replacement before he announced his exit. McGeechan declined and Sir Clive Woodward took over instead.

Rowell was soon back in the game he loved. His commercial and rugby expertise were needed at financially stricken Bristol where he served on the board, but the pull of Bath that he once described as an “umbilical cord” was strong and in 2002 he returned as director of rugby to a club teetering on the brink of relegation.

A tough campaign followed but in 2004 they reached the Premiership final, where they narrowly lost to Wasps.

Bath’s glory days were firmly behind them, however, and even Rowell’s magic was unable to rekindle the success of the 1980s and 1990s when the five league titles and eight cup wins he engineered left rivals floundering.

Rowell, a towering 6’6 lock whose playing career was ended early by injury, talked of Bath as a “family” and it was during his progressive 16-year spell at the Recreation Ground that his fondest memories in rugby were created.

“Bath was a way of life for me. Each year we’d either win something or be seriously disappointed if we didn’t,” he said after stepping aside from rugby.