Seventeen months after first joining the club, forwards coach John Brain has finally laid Martin Haag's ghost to rest.

When former Bath players Richard Hill and Haag took over at the Memorial Stadium in 2003 they won the fans over immediately.

Haag was popular and approachable, so when Bristol dispensed with his services – the summer after the club's best-ever league finish in 2006-07 – there was a huge sense of discontent.

Brain, who was Hill's forwards coach at Gloucester in the late 1990s and had been sacked as Worcester head coach the previous season, had a tough job on his hands.

He admitted this week at a BRIS Trust meeting that he should have met the club's supporters a lot earlier in his Bristol career.

But for the former Gloucester second row revealed there were other things on his mind as he started work on improving Bristol's pack.

"I should have come 12 months ago. I'm an acquired taste and I don't crave publicity," he said. "I'm not worried about what people think about me. More worried about how I behave.

"It became a challenge for a number of reasons. I had to adjust to being at a new club after I had been at Worcester for six years.

"I also had to adjust being an assistant coach. Working with Richard Hill is not a problem but it was something I was mindful of.

"Then there was the players. Their attitudes, culture and the way they did things were slightly different. The players had to adjust to me. My coaching style is quite direct – if you called me a cold fish I would take that as a compliment."

Brain was frank, honest and humorous in front of only 30 fans.

These events are normally standing room only but he certainly won over the small gathering, who will be cheering for Brain in Sunday's Guinness Premiership clash with Northampton at the Memorial Stadium.

Brain revealed: "When I arrived the line-out was sixth or seventh in the Premiership.

"I had a new strategy for the line-out and wanted to push to get into the top four. When it was good last year it was good. Some games were very good and we had 100 per cent (success rate) against Stade Francais, Glouceser, Wasps and Worcester. But when it was bad it was embarrassing. I take full responsibility.

"I have a player/coach alliance with three players. You need these players to share your standards, take it on the pitch and enforce it.

"This season our line-out is 81 per cent and the top is 87 per cent. We're fourth which is not bad but it could be better."

Brain is also happier with the scrum he has now rather than the one he inherited. He added: "The players had a mature attitude rather than having a scrum that was crafty, streetwise and awkward.

"When we started fiddling with the team last season – when we were without the likes of Darren Crompton and Jason Hobson – we went down the stats."