Newly appointed Bath coach Jon Callard has approached Bath's former director of rugby John Hall about becoming part of his new coaching set up, according to reports in The Independent.

Callard, who was named as replacement for the England bound Andy Robinson last month, is negotiating with Hall to become their forwards specialist in good time for the new season.

"We're a long way off finalising anything, but I won't deny that John and I have had several meetings," said Callard.

"There are other people under consideration and I need to get things very clear in my own mind before any appointment is made, but I've known John long enough to respect his many qualities. He has all the right attributes."

Hall, a free agent having just completed a highly impressive two-year stint in Ireland with Garryowen, was equally reluctant to comment on the move. "Bath is my club - it will always be my club," he said. "I'm interested in going back, of course I am. But it has to be right for both sides."

A born and bred Bathonian, Hall moved to the Rec as a teenager in the early 1980s and was an automatic back row choice until his retirement in 1995.

A blind-side flanker of undisputed world class, he was a towering figure during Bath's golden decade of achievement in league and cup. However, chronic knee trouble restricted him to 21 England caps, denying him appearances in two World Cups and ruling him out of the 1989 and 1993 Lions tours.

Elected by his peers as team manager after the '95 Pilkington Cup final, a match he missed through injury, he became director of rugby a year later and played a decisive role in keeping the squad together during the early days of professionalism, when Bath were short of a major financial backer and vulnerable to raids by cash-rich rivals.

His exit came in 1997 when an early exit from both the Heinekan and Pilkington Cups as well as the resignation of coach Brian Ashton exposed rifts within the club.