FIRST-TEAM coach Toby Booth says Bath Rugby have not fully discussed who will be Stuart Hooper’s successor as club captain following his shock retirement through injury last week.

Hooper has led Bath for the past five seasons but has been forced to hang up his boots with immediate effect on medical advice because of an on-going back problem.

Although a largely young squad, Bath are not short of leaders as they boast a vast array of international players within the camp.

Booth says the first priority is to get as many players as possible to take on extra responsibility before the club settle on who will take on the captaincy.

“We haven’t really discussed it, it will depend on the feedback we have,” said Booth.

“Stuart will obviously take part in that leadership role going forwards and help us develop new leaders and our challenge is to try and find the next Stuart Hooper.

“I think that is unlikely to be in one person consistently as no player is ever going to play every game.

“You need a bit of a figurehead of course but ultimately, the best way is to give people little bits of the jigsaw to lead on.

“Although everyone focuses around the captain, there’s very much a group of individuals that lead on particular things, whether it be strategic, whether it be feedback on training or articulation of message and all those sorts of things.

“It’s a multi-faceted role and Stuart was very special in that he could do all of those very quickly and very eloquently.

“What we need to do is grow individuals that even if they can’t do all of that role, then they do part of it and get used to leading on that particular part of the ship.”

England fly-half George Ford led Bath against Sale Sharks last weekend in the first match following Hooper’s retirement.

Francois Louw has been Bath’s regular stand-in skipper over the past few seasons but missed the trip to Manchester, while there are plenty of other potential candidates within the camp.

Booth added: “George was absolutely fine but Francois Louw has done it well, Guy Mercer has done it well before, Rob Webber has done it, and Dave Attwood has done it too.

“You are only ever as good as the people you have around you. It’s not about one person, it’s purely and simply about leading on what you are meant to be leading on.”