If you're a Premiership coach you don't have time to switch off Jon Callard

Jon Callard started coaching at Bath with Andy Robinson in 1997 while he was still playing, and subsequently succeeded him as head coach when Robinson joined the England staff.

Callard left Bath in 2002 and became assistant coach to Phil Davies at Leeds Tykes later that year.

He will join the RFU's coaching academy in the summer.

When I started coaching at Bath in 1997 there were just three of us running the club, the head coach Andy Robinson, myself and a fitness trainer Jim Blair.

Over the years the team expanded; we got a scrummaging technician and a few others, but at the time it was all down to us.

There was no technology to speak of back then - a video was as hi-tech as it got.

Now you've got Pro-Zone, Super-Scout from Opta and Sports-Code, which are some amazing pieces of kit.

I probably do 10-12 hours of video analysis a week, pre-match and post-match.

Mentally the game has become far harder in the past 10 years - the sport has moved on tenfold since those days.

As a coach, it's a challenge to get the balance in training, because players need more rest these days then ever before.

There are enormous pressures on coaches these days, but that's what you get paid for.

Even when you've left the training field you'll still be thinking about how your team played Jon Callard

Rugby is now a business and it's results driven. But, as I see it, it's also important to produce players to play nationally - that's my opinion anyway.

The number of fixtures means the demands are now far greater - and you're asking for more pounds of flesh from each individual.

Defences are far harder to unpick because players are quicker, faster, stronger - even the front five are making an average of 10-12 tackles a game.

These days most sides spend as much time on defence as they do on attack, whereas defence used to be something you talked about after the opposition had scored a try.

It's arguable that in today's world, with the use of so much technology and planned training regimes, we stifle individual initiative, which can't be good for the game.

If you're a Premiership coach, you don't have time to switch off.

Even when you've left the training field you'll still be thinking about how your team played, what next week's opposition are like and how you can improve.

I came from a passionate part of the world, and the public in Bath let you know in no uncertain terms what they felt about the team.

There's huge pressure at clubs like Bath, Gloucester, Worcester and Leicester where you're always under the public's glare.

But I'm very lucky to do the job I do, and that's the way I look at it.

You go through highs and troughs, but that's what makes it so unique. Personally I believe you have to go through those lows to truly experience the highs.

I think it makes you a better person and a better coach.