By Jason Harris
July 2 2002

Sarries' fitness coach Mike Yates has left the club and joined Bath, bringing to an end his five year association with the Men in Black. Yates, the latest member to leave from the Sarries "departure lounge" on the official site, saw the good times an the bad times at the club and it seems that new coach Wayne Shelford wants to change not only his playing staff, but his back room personnel also. And it is new Bath supremo Jack Rowell who will benefit from Yates' years of experience with Sarries and England A.

Two memorable anecdotes spring to mind about Mike Yates. The first was his public roasting of Pierre Durant during a premiership game last season right in front of the Fezboys in the Lower Rous Stand at Vicarage Road. As the team lined up to chase a re-start, Durant felt the full force of his coach's wrath as the bemused supporters looked on.

The second was a prank played by "niggler in chief" Kris Chesney after Yates returned from England A duty earlier this year. You may recall that England lost all five of their shadow 6 Nations matches and finished bottom of the championship. To mark this not very momentous occasion, Chesney decided it would be a bit of a laugh to sellotape a wooden spoon to Yates' locker at the Bramley Road training ground. What Yates said about that is a mystery, but I think it may have been delivered in a manner somewhat similar to the lecture to the hapless Durant!

Bath's Michael Foley said of Yates: "Mike is wonderfully experienced having worked with both the Saracens team and England A. There is no doubting the fact that he will be an invaluable addition to the coaching team and we see this as a real coup."


Sarries meanwhile say that this latest move, and the re-signing of flanker Tony Roques, will not be the last before pre-season training kicks off on 15 July. As soon as we have news of any more comings and goings, we'll let you know.