‘Ward the standout candidate’ - Tainton

The former hooker, who made nearly 300 professional appearances at Harlequins, Northampton, Sale, Bath and Cornish Pirates arrives in the West Country from GKIPA Championship side, Ampthill.

Tainton believes Ward’s vision for the club and its alignment with the Bears men, is an exciting prospect.

“When we advertised, we had an awful lot of strong candidates, but when Dave (Ward) presented his vision and his plan for going forwards for the women’s game and Bears Women, it was something that aligned with us and we’re looking to bring both teams and clubs closer together.

“Dave’s and Pat’s thoughts on the alignment are very similar and that’s really exciting.

“Over the last couple of years, we haven’t been where we want to be, we’ve not been in the top four and that is our target, to be a top four team and eventually win it.

“We’re hoping now that bringing someone like Dave on board, with the calibre of his coaching and his experience, we can achieve that.”