Aviva Premiership
Redpath removed from director of rugby post
ESPN Staff
October 30, 2012
Sale Sharks' Bryan Redpath barks some orders, Sale Sharks v Saracens, Aviva Premiership, Salford City Stadium, England, September 8, 2012
Bryan Redpath has only been in charge of Sale for nine games © Getty Images
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Sale CEO Steve Diamond will take charge of the Sharks' first team for the rest of the season with Bryan Redpath removed from his position as director of rugby.

Redpath - who held the position for just five months - has been offered a job as their backs coach and Diamond hopes that the restructuring will cause an improvement of the team's fortunes on the field.

"I will be in charge until the end of the season. John Mitchell will be consultant during that period, and hopefully Bryan Redpath," Diamond said. "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."

The news comes after Sale's loss to Worcester on Friday - their seventh consecutive defeat in the league and a loss that marked their worst start to a Premiership season. Despite bringing in big name pre-season signings Richie Gray and Danny Cipriani, Sale are languishing at the foot of the table with just two points to their name and eight points off London Irish in eleventh.

Diamond will now take charge of first-team affairs for the rest of the season and will work alongside former All Blacks coach John Mitchell who is set to join in a consultancy role. According to reports Mitchell, who is in the final stages of resolving his dispute with previous employers the Lions, will have a say in team selection ahead of Friday's match with London Irish with Diamond presiding over the team.

Redpath had only been in charge of the Sharks for nine matches and was appointed in June, signing a four-year contract in the process. And today's announcement that Redpath is no longer Sale's director of rugby is their second change in the coaching structure this season following the sacking of forwards coach Steve Scott after just four games.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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