The South African duo formed a strong partnership in their first year at London Irish, guiding their team to fourth on the table at the end of the regular 2001–02 Premiership Season.

However, in the European Challenge Cup, London Irish made it to the semi-final, only to lose to Welsh side Pontypridd RFC 33–27.

At the end of that season, Venter left his role at London Irish and Gary Gold was promoted to head coach.

Gold's first season in charge saw London Irish struggle further, finishing eighth in the Premiership, and being knocked out by Narbonne in the second round of the 2003–04 European Challenge Cup.

An unimpressive stint as head coach of London Irish saw Gold leave the side at the end of the 2004–05 season to return to South Africa.

Gold stood down at the end of that season, focusing on his assistant coaching role with the South African national team.

After South Africa was knocked out at the quarter finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup by Australia, losing 11–9, head coach Peter de Villiers immediately resigned in the post-match press conference.

In January 2012, with Newcastle Falcons nine points adrift in the relegation zone of the Aviva Premiership, they announced that Gold and Mike Ford would join the club on an interim contract until the end of the season.

Despite best efforts of the two coaches, leading the side to multiple bonus points and four wins, the Falcons were unable to close the gap between them and London Wasps.

However inconsistent performances in 2013 meant Bath were unable to get much above seventh on the table, narrowly missing out on a Heineken Cup seed for the 2013–14 season.

[7] Ford, a man known for his regular upstaging of people he worked with, was instrumental in convincing Bath owner, Bruce Craig, to replace Gold.

Ford was in charge of the team that got to the Premiership final, until he too was fired a year later for inappropriate management of players and staff at Bath.

In April of that year, Gold committed his future to the side and will remain with the club until at least the end of the 2017–18 English Premiership season.

[12] However, before this appointment was made, on the 2 October 2017, it was announced that Gold would not be resign with the club, after he was named the new head coach the United States, a role he initially wasn't set to start until the conclusion of the 2017–18 season.

[14] On 2 October 2017, USA Rugby announced that Gold would be the new head coach of the U.S. national team, effective at the end of the 2017-18 English Premiership season, ahead of the 2018 June Internationals.

In Gold's first major campaign, he helped lead the United States to a "decider" match at the conclusion of the 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup.