Gloucester and director of rugby David Humphreys part ways with five candidates on head coach shortlist

Gloucester announced the departure of director of rugby David Humphreys on Tuesday in a move that could save the club a significant sum of money moving forward.

Humphreys, who joined the club in 2014 from Ulster, has moved on a few weeks after former head coach Johan Ackermann departed to join Docomo Red Hurricanes in Japan.

Gloucester’s decision to move forward without a director of rugby is a reflection of the new financial reality which the sport finds itself in after the coronavirus pandemic, according to Gloucester chief executive Lance Bradley, who believes having an expensive director of rugby and head coach could soon be a thing of the past.

Bradley added that it was fair to suggest that scrapping the director of rugby role could effectively halve Gloucester’s expenditure at the top of their coaching tree.

“There are going to be changes in the rugby world. We need to make sure we are properly prepared for them. We are facing a very different environment,” Bradley told Telegraph Sport.

“That doesn’t mean we cut everything and don’t have a plan. It means we have a different plan to the one where we used to have a director of rugby paid quite a lot of money and a head coach paid quite a lot of money, and players on half a million pounds.

“That era is disappearing. The teams that win are going to be the ones who are best set up to manage that.

“To be clear, it was David’s idea to go. He was not pushed out. I read the rumours that David wanted this guy as head coach and the rest of the board didn’t, that absolutely isn’t the case. It isn’t a result of a dispute. He just feels that with the direction the club needs to go in, that it is time for him to move on from. He is a hugely honourable man.”

A shortlist of five candidates to replace Ackermann as head coach has been put together, including some candidates who are attached to other clubs as well as a “strong internal candidate” according to Bradley, believed to be current assistant coach Rory Teague.

Former Wasps director of rugby Dai Young and former Wales assistant coach Rob Howley have also been linked with the role. Howley’s nine-month suspension for betting on rugby, which brought the end of his 12-year career with Wales, concludes this month.

All five candidates will be interviewed towards the end of this week by Bradley and Alex Brown, the club’s commercial director who is now poised to take on some of the jobs formerly overseen by Humphreys.

Gloucester’s new coaching system will also be discussed with players at a meeting on Thursday.