Gloucester to appoint new coach at end of month
Laurie Fisher, who has left his position as Gloucester head coach
©PA
Gloucester rugby director David Humphreys has confirmed that the club will announce Laurie Fisher's replacement as head coach at the end of the month.
Fisher announced his decision to step down after Gloucester's shocking defeat of 27-30 to Harlequins at Kingsholm Stadium where the visitors made a stunning comeback scoring 15 points in the final 10 minutes.
The Cherry and Whites are currently positioned ninth in Aviva Premiership table and are nine points away from the sixth placed Northampton Saints but had a reasonable success in the European Challenge Cup where they will have a home play-off against Cardiff Blues on 1st April.
Following the game against Quins, the former Brumbies coach tweeted: "Unbelievable capitulation. Clearly not good enough. My responsibility. Time to make room for someone else."
Humphreys stated that the club was disappointed with the defeat to Harlequins and paid tribute to Fisher for his contribution to Gloucester rugby which also included a 2014/15 European Challenge Cup title win.
"We were all very disappointed with the result against Harlequins and the events of the past two days which have ultimately seen Laurie Fisher leave the club.
"Two and a half years ago we put together a coaching team led by Laurie Fisher.
"In my time in rugby I haven't come across an individual who possessed such a wealth of rugby knowledge, work ethic and absolute commitment to bringing success to Gloucester Rugby.
"However, despite giving it everything, after Saturday's disappointment Laurie felt that it was time for someone else to take over as head coach."
The 45-year-old further confirmed that defence coach Jonny Bell will act as interim replacement for Fisher until the end of the month and will be assisted by backs and attack coach Tim Taylor and scrum coach Trevor Woodman.
"For the remainder of this season, we will not be making any further changes to the coaching team, and Jonny Bell will step up to lead the rugby programme, assisted by Tim Taylor and Trevor Woodman," Humphreys said.
"Looking forward, the process to identify a new head coach has already begun and we will be in a position to confirm the appointment of a replacement by the end of the month."
