Bath make dramatic u-turn over Priestland

In January Bath announced that Rhys Priestland would be leaving the West Country outfit at the end of the season.

But just three months later there’s been a sensational u-turn by the Gallagher Premiership club.

“It’s taken a while to get to this point but the process has been completely transparent all the way. This has always been an incredibly important contract for me at this stage of my career and I am delighted to be staying at the Club”, Priestland said.

“We are all striving to be better at what we do every day from the squad to the coaches and I really believe that our best performances lie ahead of us.”

He has signed a new two-year contract with the club which will keep him at the club until 2021.

Director of Rugby, Todd Blackadder, added: “It is no secret that we have been looking at a couple of specific options. However, this has never diminished the faith we have in Rhys. He is an incredibly respected member of our group and we know he will continue to commit to our future direction and help us achieve the success we are all striving for. We believe we are all building something special here at the Club and Rhys has already been and continues to be, a huge part of that.

“There are many moving parts to recruitment and no one contract sits in isolation. We are now in the final stages of our recruitment for next season and alongside our other recruits and the players that we have retained, we are excited about the squad that is being built here and we are incredibly happy with where Rhys sits within this and the role he plays in our future.”

Capped 50 times by Wales, Priestland joined Bath ahead of the 2015/16 season from Scarlets. The fly-half has made 74 appearances, scoring over 350 points in the Gallagher Premiership and will remain with the Blue, Black and White until the end of 2020/21.