ANTHONY Posa has left Bradford & Bingley after one season as head coach to fill an identical role with Rotherham Titans.

The south Yorkshire club finished sixth in National League One – which is three divisions above the Bees - last season.

Hugh Gumbs, assistant coach to Posa in 2018-19, is taking over as head coach for the Wagon Laners, and the club are advertising for a forward to become a player-coach.

Veteran prop Ryan Wederell will continue as a player but will again help with the technical side of forward play and on strength and conditioning, and will work on his coaching qualifications.

Bees rugby chairman Chris Hemsley said: “Anthony is a very honest and straightforward person who brought in a lot of good things, and we would never stand in the way of someone trying to improve himself.

“He is a professional rugby coach and as Titans are three divisions above us it is an opportunity he had to take. We wish him all the best.”

Hemsley added: “Hugh worked with Anthony last season, is full of ideas and can now bring them to the table as head coach.

“Hugh is very relaxed and very clear in what he wants to do, but has ideas not only about the rugby side of things but also on how the club should be run as a whole.

“We are very excited about the future, and the good thing is that we have retained all of the players from last season.

“When a coach moves on there is a tendency for some players to go with him, but that hasn’t happened here, with players such as Cam Bainbridge happy to stay on as he gets on really well with Hugh.

“Tom Booth is staying on as skipper and we have just advertised for an assistant coach who will be a forward as Hugh’s speciality is with the backs.

“We finished seventh last season in North One East, which is right at the bottom of the top half, but we feel we are better than that – at least belonging to the league above - and hopefully we can work on the things that we didn’t have time to work on last season.

“We want the forwards’ coach to be one of our leaders among other leaders in the team.”

Gumbs has drafted the advert for a forwards’ player-coach, which is a paid role, and wants ambitious applicants who can help the Bees play in the North Premier division – one league above where they now are – within at least three years.

Candidates must hold a Level Two coaching certificate and would potentially be working towards Level Three.

Their role would involve assisting with preparation and selection of both the first and second XVs, help with training on Tuesdays and Thursdays for both seniors and juniors, assisting the latter to move into senior teams, as well as mentoring the second and third XV coaches and colts coaches and management.

In addition the player would be involved with player recruitment and retention.

Applicants should send their CV and a covering letter outlining their ambitions to hughgumbs@hotmail.com and the closing date for applications is Saturday, June 22, with interviews to be held a week later.