The former Wales Schools and Wales U21 full back, who then went on to enjoy a stellar career with Bath and England, is now reaching the end of his first campaign in Super Rygbi Cymru and has very much liked what he’s seen.
After a tricky start, which saw his new side win only one of their first seven games, he brought them home on the crest of a wave with four successive wins to clinch fifth spot. That has earned them a quarter-final tie this weekend at Llandovery.
The 60-year-old Callard spent a decade working for the RFU in various high performance roles until his departure in 2016, which included a stint coaching England’s U20 team. He was also kicking coach for the senior England men’s side that reached the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final.
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As a player, Callard made more than 200 appearances for Bath between 1989 and 1999, scored all 19 of Bath’s points to steer them to Heineken Cup glory over Brive in 1998, and won five caps for Engand.
He also served at The Rec as assistant coach and head coach either side of the new millennium, before moving into the head coach role at Leeds Tykes between 2002 and 2005.
After two years back at Bath as kicking coach, he departed in 2024 and spent 18 months out of the game. He then received a call last summer from John Neal, the WRU’s national performance coaching lead, to see if he’d be interested in going to help out at RGC.
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Having spent nine months in north Wales, Callard feels right at home and has also been hugely impressed with what he has seen in the SRC competition.
“I think it’s a fantastic concept in terms of it being a pathway for players to expose themselves to this type of rugby, and to be exposed to this sort of intensity and scrutiny for them to move up,” said Callard.
“I'm a big fan, I love the concept, it’s a great idea. But it’s also a breeding ground for officials, a development league for the betterment of the game as a whole in Wales.
“Yes, it can be about winning and losing, but not in my book. My book is about process development - if you do those things right, then the outcome of winning is more likely to happen than losing.”
Callard is also pretty clear about one addition to SRC he’d make straight away – adopting the rolling replacements system used in the English National League system.
“One thing I would like to see in this league, that happens over the border, is that we have interchanges rather than substitutions,” he continued.
“So you've got a number of subs that you could take on and off to a period, I think it's 10 interchanges in rugby union over there. It fits really nicely with the development model.
“If you've got a young up and coming player and, as a coach, you’re not too sure about making a substitution, you can bring him on for 20 minutes or so and then take him off again, and it hasn't hindered your side whatsoever. It’s a win-win.
“By that I'm only thinking purely of young players, not a 38-year-old who can do three 20-minute stints. That’s not the way I see it - I’m talking purely about development.
“And that's the way I see this league. I think it's a fantastic concept – if we all try to buy into it for what its purpose is.”
Callard is also confident the SRC clubs could more than hold their own with their English Champ Rugby counterparts and has called for the reintroduction of an Anglo-Welsh cup competition.
“In my mind, the bottom of SRC is the top of National One and lower tier Championship. And then the top of SRC is probably from middle to top third in the Championship," he said.
“So it's a reasonably good standard that we have. I think the top teams in SRC could hold their own in the top third.
“I think Ealing would be a stretch because they’re full-time, they have a massive budget, they have a massive squad, and I think it’d be difficult to compete, certainly for us to do that.
“But I think what would be fantastic – and again I'm throwing this out there – is to have an Anglo-Welsh Cup of the SRC Trophy and English Champ Rugby.
“I wouldn’t make it a group thing, I’d make it a straight knockout, like the old Pilkington and Swalec Cup days were. It’s to do with the draw at the end of the day. I just think there’s so much romance about a ball coming out of a bag and you are playing X that weekend.”
