By Duncan Wood
November 25 2004

After the recent rumours this story from a few years ago seems apposite. Having been surprisingly released by Bath, Mark Regan seems to be keen to return to the Memorial Stadium after a 5 year absence. The rumour mill is working overtime but the club seem happy with Saul Nelson & Neil McCarthy.

After 5 years at Bath i.e. 5 years after leaving Bristol for the old enemy, the new regime at the Rec has decided that the England hooker is surplus to requirements and have decided that he is free to move on.

The statement was brief and to the point:

"After a poor season, Bath Rugby clearly needed to make changes to the playing squad to re-establish not only its short-term goals, but also the future prosperity of the club...Mark Regan has been offered the opportunity to further his career elsewhere...In the current environment, however, Mark, through his agent Alistair Saverimutto, is actively seeking a new challenge."

It's actually quite surprising. Admittedly, Bath had 4 hookers on the books following the arrival of Jonathan Humphreys but who would have guessed that Ronnie would have been the one to make way?

As soon as the statement was made, the rumour mill was linking him with a return to the Memorial Stadium. I suppose it was inevitable. He's a Bristol lad who spent 7 seasons here and who would probably like to avoid uprooting his family.

Regan himself made a plea in yesterday's Bristol Evening Post. Under a headline of, "I want to come back - Regan", he's quoted as saying:

"It would mean a hell of a lot to come back to Bristol. That would be ideal...I have expressed an interest in Bristol. It's now up to Bristol to come back and get in touch with me..I am a Bristolian who wants to come back to the club and I think the fans would like that."

I wonder if the fans would? Don't get me wrong, I cheered as loudly for the guy when he was a Bristol player as I would any other Shoguns player. 5 years is a long time but people have long memories. He left the club for Bath. There's no getting away from that.

We also have 2 pretty decent hookers and some promising talent at U21 level. Neil McCarthy is an England international and a proven Premiership player. He's just had the best game of his Bristol career.

Saul Nelson has just graduated from the U21 setup, he toured with Wales last summer. He looks to be one for the future. At U21 level, we have Chris Rowland, Tom Lambert and Fergus Gallagher. We're not short of hookers!

Bristol Shoguns have reacted fairly coolly. "We are quite happy with the two hookers we already have" said Dean Ryan. Someone I spoke to this week said with regard to signing Regan, "Nothing could be further from the truth".

Maybe, it's all a smokescreen? I just feel that the money required to bring him back to Bristol could be better spent on other areas of the squad.