Jack Rowell will tomorrow be unveiled as Bath's director of rugby eight years after he left the Recreation Ground to take charge of England.

Bath won 13 trophies in a 10-year spell under Rowell, but their cabinet has been bare since they lifted the Heineken Cup in 1998, and they spent all of last season in the bottom four of the Zurich Premiership.

Rowell, who is 65, has been Bristol's managing director for the past 18 months. His contract ended this month and Bath, whose first choice for the post was the Leeds rugby director Phil Davies, delayed making the announcement until after last Saturday's Zurich Championship final between Gloucester and Bristol had been played.

Bristol also face losing their director of rugby Dean Ryan, who has been linked with Gloucester, though he has steadfastly denied the reports of his impending move to Kingsholm.

"I will be speaking to Dean later this week," said the Bristol owner Malcolm Pearce last night. "I have not talked to Jack in the last few days but he is a free agent and it's clear that a return to the club where he enjoyed so much success proved irresistible.

"Jack did an excellent job for us. He told me last month that he would be stepping back from rugby and even hinted at moving abroad, but good luck to him. Dean has overseen the development of the club from a second division side to qualifiers in the Heineken Cup and I don't want to see him go.

"That said, I will not try to hold on to someone who would rather be elsewhere. I need to speak to Dean to find out what his plans are, but whatever happens there is no danger of Bristol suffering. We have held on to all our players and we will be going from strength to strength."

Rowell is reported to be putting together a consortium to buy out the Bath owner Andrew Brownsword. Pearce used to be a regular at the Recreation Ground before buying Bristol, but has ruled out joining in Rowell's bid.

"My priority is to build on what we have achieved this season," said Pearce, who hopes to complete the purchase of a 50% stake in the Memorial Stadium, the ground Bristol play at as tenants of Bristol Rovers, before September. "Exciting times are beckoning after some hard years and I was delighted with the performance in the final against Gloucester."

Bath refused to comment on Rowell's arrival other than to say they would announce a new director of rugby tomorrow, who will oversee the team with the head coach Michael Foley.

Newport are confident the full-back Percy Montgomery will join them next November despite South Africa wanting him for their World Cup build-up, and a threat by Western Province to hold on to him until the end of 2003.

Western Province's Gert Smal said: "Percy's contract stipulates he may leave before the end of 2003 if we find a suitable replacement and he is a difficult guy to replace."

· Leeds, who finished bottom of the Premiership, will confirm the signing of the Argentinian international wing Diego Albanese from Gloucester tomorrow. Albanese, who has agreed a two-year contract, plays for the Pumas against France this weekend and England a week later.