Bath appoint Blackadder and Matson in new coaching set-up

(Reuters) - Bath Rugby have named former New Zealand captain Todd Blackadder as director of rugby and Tabai Matson as head coach as part of their new coaching set-up. The Premiership club have been without a head coach since they dismissed Mike Ford in May following a disappointing season in which they finished ninth in the league. The 44-year-old Blackadder led the Christchurch-based Super Rugby outfit Crusaders to four semi-finals and two finals since he took over in 2009, while Matson joins Bath having served as Blackadder's assistant coach since 2013. "I'm really looking forward to joining Bath -- they are an ambitious club, with some very talented players," Blackadder told the club's website (www.bathrugby.co). "They play attacking rugby, and have a clear vision of where they want to be. Tabai and I are really excited to be part of that and to develop it further over the coming seasons." The duo will take up their posts in the next few weeks following the end of the 2016 Super Rugby campaign where the Crusaders were beaten 42-25 by the Lions in the play-off quarter-finals last weekend. They will be supported by the current Bath first-team coaches Toby Booth and Darren Edwards, along with former Bath captain Stuart Hooper, who announced his retirement in April due to injury. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)