Jeremy Guscott’s column: This Bath side has the ability, now they must finish the job

Bath have arrived as true Premiership contenders again, and with a home semi-final already secured I would bet on them at the Recreation Ground against anyone, including Leicester or Saracens. It’s not rocket science to know you need a sized-up pack to give a good chance finishing in the top four, or top six of the Premiership. Then it needs to play with intelligence and precision.
Set-piece excellence is a given, and to have that you need at least four outstanding props. Bath meet that requirement with David Wilson, Henry Thomas, Paul James, Nick Auterac and Kane Palma-Newport on the books. On top of that, Mike Ford and his coaches have sorted and sifted their players in the backs as well as the forwards to come up with a squad capable of a bold attacking plan that is not just limited to having a power pack.
Harlequins won the Premiership a few years ago – although it seems like a lifetime – and have not got near it since because their forward engine is underpowered. It’s the same with the Wasps, and if both sides had greater strength-in-depth up front they’d probably be in play-off contention.
Bath have a power pack and a good attacking and defensive backline, and while they have not scored as many tries as Northampton or Wasps this season, with 65 touchdowns they are among the leaders. They are a good team to watch, and even for a neutral the way the backline dismantles defences must be appealing. Tries are still the currency that most fans enjoy, and whether it’s the build-up, invention, or execution, it’s the exhilaration of seeing them scored that keeps the fans coming back.
To achieve what the Bath team I played for did for years, and what Leicester did after them, is ultimately about having clever rugby players around the pitch. Players who know what it takes to win, and have the physical and mental attributes to do so.
This Bath side have shown they have the physical capability, but the area where they’ve been lacking slightly is mental strength. That might come now, because François Louw has demonstrated for the club, and Springboks, he has plenty of both. With George Ford providing similar direction and influence in the backs, Bath should be in business if both stay fit.
They have the same influence Roger Spurrell and Stuart Barnes had in my day – the same determination to win and self-belief that other players look for in their leaders. If Bath had another six players like Louw and Ford they’d win the league every year. Half your team has be loaded with players that good if you are to win Championships for four or five seasons in a row.
At the moment they are a team which, although it looks quite structured, can also be an explosive attacking force. All the props mentioned earlier carry strongly, and when you have that firepower you know you are in business. Bath are not quite so blessed in the second row and back row, but there are still good signs with a natural like Charlie Ewels coming through and
seasoned pros Leroy Houston, Matt Garvey and Carl Fearns alongside Louw.
However, although the pack’s back five is still a work in progress and has to be the next development area, they’ve benefited from many of forwards being interchangeable in the same way England are.
At scrum-half they’re well set because Peter Stringer has been there and done it with Munster and Ireland, and they have a promising youngster in Chris Cook. Bath’s backline is at its strongest when Ford has Kyle Eastmond outside him, while Jonathan Joseph picks himself. In the back three the most dangerous combination at the moment is the back-in-form Semesa Rokoduguni on one wing and Matt Banahan, whose been scoring tries for fun, on the other, with Anthony Watson at full-back.
The backs have thrived on the good ball that the juggernaut pack produces, but the next stage is to learn to gel most effectively with the forwards. In my time at The Rec there were huge battles about whether it was the forwards or backs who got the ball because both thought they had the ability to score – and I suspect there will still be an element of that with current team.
They need to come to the realisation, as we did, that whether they are forwards or backs, good players know when it’s the right time to give the ball. For instance, a well-timed release from a dominant rolling maul when it’s moving forward quickly is great attacking ball for a backline.
The All Blacks remain the template for playing dynamic, intelligent, quick rugby, and Bath are heading down that road. They still have a lot of work to do, but they are progressing in the right direction.
Bath have lost only one league game at home this season and that is an ideal building block, because it’s from there that you develop the confidence to go away and win. Home advantage counts in the play-offs, and this season they overwhelmed Leicester at The Rec before losing the return narrowly at Welford Road. There’s a sense that the Tigers might still have a mental edge because they are more used to success, but player-for-player they are no better than Bath.
I don’t want to get ahead of Bath, and certainly don’t want the team to get ahead of itself, but if the players and coaches get it right they are capable of winning the title. Now they have to do the most difficult bit, which is finishing job.
When I first came into the Bath side in 1983-84 it was not loaded with 50-cap internationals, but you could see that most of them would become internationals. Going onto the pitch you’d look at your line-up, and then at theirs, and you’d know you’d got them. It was the belief that if we played as well as we could then it would be nigh-on impossible for the opposition to beat us.
This side is capable of developing a similar mentality.