Decisive coach action was needed by Ospreys - Bradley

Lance Bradley took over as Ospreys chief executive in January 2024

Ospreys chief executive Lance Bradley says decisive action was needed with head coach Toby Booth leaving his role early and Mark Jones taking over.

Jones enjoyed victory in his opening game in charge with a last-gasp 23-22 win in the United Rugby Championship (URC) derby win against Scarlets on Saturday.

The Ospreys said in September Booth would be succeeded by defence coach Jones at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Booth's departure date was brought forward six months after Ospreys took only two wins from their opening seven URC fixtures this term and suffered a European record defeat in Montpellier.

"It was a decision taken by the board and I spoke to Toby," Bradley told the Scrum V podcast.

"Toby is a professional and experienced coach and reacted in the way you would expect.

"He was philosophical, obviously he was disappointed but he texted a few of us before the Scarlets game wishing us luck, so that shows the kind of man he is."

No regrets

Booth had guided Ospreys to the URC play-offs and the Challenge Cup quarter-finals in the 2023-24 season but was not offered a new deal with his current contract set to expire in the summer of 2025.

When asked whether Booth wanted a fresh contract, Bradley replied: "When we talked about it at the beginning of the season, we both agreed it was time to look at different opportunities and Toby was happy with that."

Bradley says he had no regrets about the original decision in September to announce Booth was leaving at the end of the 2024-25 season.

"I still think it was the right thing to do at the time," said Bradley.

"It is always difficult and you always want to be fair to people.

"He [Booth] had a very good season last year when Ospreys won our first European knockout game and we finished in the top eight of the league.

"It would have been difficult to explain to people why you wanted to change the coach at that point.

"We hoped it would work out with Toby seeing out the last year of his contract and Mark knowing he would take over and having a transition period."

Bradley accepted the policy had not worked and an early-season intervention was required.

"We always knew that was going to be difficult for everybody involved because when you know you are not going to be here the following season and the people around you know that as well, it slightly changes the dynamic," said Bradley.

"We thought we would be able to see that through. But we came to the conclusion it probably wasn't working as well as hoped it would and we had to make a decision.

"One important thing is if you think something is not working, you need to talk about it and give people a chance.

"But in the end you have to act decisively to do what is best for the club and that's what we decided to do."