Bath out to go one step further this time around
PAUL REES LOOKS AT HOW JOHANN VAN GRAAN HAS TURNED THE WEST COUNTRY SIDE INTO TITLE CHALLENGERS
TWO years after finishing bottom of the Premiership, Bath were a score away from the title. They were on the attack in Northampton's 22 with time up at Twickenham having played for an hour with 14 men after Beno Obano's red card for a dangerous tackle, but the move broke down and their long wait for the trophy went on. The defeat hurt, but it also showed why Bath had come a very long way in the two years Johann van Graan had been head coach. The South African joined after the club had finished an ignominious 13th out of 13 with teams regarding them as a buffet, helping themselves: they twice conceded 71 points and went for 64 in another two matches, as impregnable as a sandcastle when the tide rolls in.
What Bath showed in the final was a fighting spirit and conditioning that had been glaringly absent before his arrival. They had demonstrated throughout the campaign they were able to stay in the fight, even rallying after being 40-3 down at Harlequins as they closed the gap to four points.
They had come from 22-8 down to beat Racing 92 in the Champions Cup, scored 35 second-half points against Gloucester at Kingsholm after trailing 20-10 at the interval and six of their seven Premiership defeats went down to the wire as they picked up at least one bonus point in defeat.
The one exception was at Leicester on New Year's Even when van Graan made 12 changes from the side that had defeated Harlequins the previous week. He had given every one of his players a tailor-made plan before the start of the season and after two Champions Cup weekends with two more to come rested his big-hitters.
It earned home criticism at the time but served the side in the closing weeks of the season. Bath won the second half 12-7 and were a try away from two bonus points in another game that showed how they had evolved as a side: never giving up and difficult to put away.
They were also polished in attack with Finn Russell enjoying a notable first Premiership campaign after joining from Racing 92. In the past, Bath collected top players like a philatelist buys rare stamps, but van Graan, below, is not one to accumulate for the sake of it. He wanted Russell both for his talent and his lack of ego.
“The best is still to come,” says van Graan. “We must win at home and make The Rec a fortress”
The squad comes first at Bath and van Graan kept players happy at the club despite competition for places throughout the side. The team was regularly rotated and as the head coach acknowledged after the defeat to Northampton in the final, what had sustained them in the final weeks of the campaign was the attitude in training of players who were not likely to start in the play-offs.
Bath had last been in the Premiership final eight years before, but it proved to be a dive down rather than a springboard.
It is likely to be different this time. Bath still won the second half against Northampton at Twickenham despite being a player short and were leading with seven minutes to go when England scrum-half and the Saints' catalyst, Alex Mitchell, who had been well contained, broke free of his shackles to decide the match.
“The best is still to come,” said van Graan after taking a couple of weeks to digest the match. “We said we would not die wondering but would throw punches and we did. We ended the game strongly despite the red card and had a shot with the last play but could not just quite execute.
“We got better during the season and we are hard to beat. It was a season of consistency and we stayed in the top four over the 18 rounds, getting points in 17 of the 18 games. Players have grown as leaders, from our captain Ben Spencer to Sam Underhill who came to the fore in our gameplan group.
“Players have become tighter and taken control of their destiny. We have individual development plans for every player and it was clear when they would play. It gave the squad belief and you cannot do it with 23 players. In the final week of the season, we had three full teams in training with only one player unavailable.
“Everyone understands what we are about and what is required to be a Bath player. It made it difficult selecting teams at the back end of the season when we had a full squad to pick from.”
Bath start the season with an East Midlands double: they have an early opportunity to show what they learned from the final when Northampton visit the Rec on the opening Friday night before a trip to Welford Road to face Michael Cheika's Leicester. Then come two local derbies, at home to Bristol and away to Gloucester, and if the campaign is as tight and hard-fought as the last one, the end will be testing with trips to Bristol and Saracens interrupted by the visit of Leicester.
“We have to win at home and make the Rec a fortress,” said van Graan. “We won seven of our nine Premiership games last season, losing to a last-minute penalty against Leicester and one after 76 minutes against Saracens. We were unbeaten at home in the Champions Cup.
“We won four games away and got maximum points in all of them. Seasons have ebbs and flows. Every week is unique and we never get too high when we win or too low when we lose. You have to be in the race come April and May and enjoy the journey.”
One constant for Bath in their years of strife was the loyalty of the crowd at the Rec, who turned up in their numbers, even if more in hope than expectation. Now they have something to believe in and it was the noise they generated that helped Bath find a second wind in the playoff semi-final after Sale had taken the lead in the second half.
“The walk-in to Twickenham was very special,” said van Graan. “I have never seen so many blue, black and white supporters and we savoured every moment. The Rec has become an incredible place for its vibe whether it is raining or the sun is out. When we walked in for the Sale semi-final, it was a tunnel of noise.
“Bath is a rugby city and people here understand the values of the game. When the players leave their hearts on the pitch, it is something that supporters love to see.”
Bath now have stability after years of chopping and changing. With that comes consistency – they have won 15 of their last 22 Premiership matches compared to 10 victories in their previous 45 games.
“Continuity is important and we have it for the first time in a number of years,” said van Graan. “Successful teams stay together for a long time. The clubs is in a very good place and we have become a team that can play for 80 minutes.
“We want to perform at the highest level and do well in every competition we play in. Expectation is a brilliant thing, but you have to be fluid and adaptable, changing where you need to. What I have learned from Manchester City and what they have achieved in recent years is peak performance. We are a club that players want to come to.”
Ins and outs
Bath have made three senior signings but lose 12 players in the close season, including Matt Gallagher, Elliot Stooke, Josh McNally, Juan Schoeman and GJ van Velze.
Second row Ross Molony has arrived from Leinster to bring experience to the second row while loose-head prop Francois van Wyk has joined from Leicester having also played for Northampton.
They are both in their 30s but Guy Pepper, right, is not long out of Newcastle's academy. The 20-year old flanker trained with England earlier this year and will vie with Sam Underhill for the open-side berth.
Newcastle's director of rugby Steve Diamond was miffed to lose Pepper, although by the time he arrived at Kingston Park last January there was little he could do to prevent the move.
He thought Pepper should have stayed with the Falcons for the next couple of seasons as he would have been a regular starter, something Bath could not guarantee.
But the way Johann van Graan rotates his team means Pepper will get opportunities. The flanker had surgery after the end of last season to address a shoulder problem that was detected during his medical but he is expected to be available at the start of the season.
Scotland centre Cameron Redpath has also had a shoulder operation this summer but it has yet to be determined whether he will be ready for the clash against Northampton.
Wing Regan Grace, who suffered a hamstring injury playing for Wales against Queensland Reds last month, has yet to play for Bath and after having surgery, will miss the opening matches.
But full-back Tom de Glanville, who missed the final three months of last season after suffering a broken foot against Leinster in a March friendly, is back in full training and will be ready.
Bath have three home friendlies before the start of the campaign against Munster, the province van Graan joined from, Ealing Trailfinders and the Dragons.
Ground control
Winning the Premiership may be the itch Bath most want to scratch, but sorting out the future of the Recreation Ground is a very close second.
The planning process has dragged on for years as Bath look to redevelop the site that the club first played on in 1894, raising the capacity from 14,500 to 18,000 and installing a hybrid pitch that would allow for community use.
The issue has dragged on because of the conditions of the lease which the owners of the site, the Forester family, drew up in 1894. It allowed work to be carried out on the site that would make it suitable for outdoor sports -Somerset County Cricket Club first played there three years later.
The club submitted a planning application to Bath & North East Somerset Council last September for a comprehensive redevelopment of the Rec that would involve knocking down the clubhouse, creating three new permanent stands and extending the South Stand.
There have been some 4,000 responses from locals to the application, most of which, say Bath, have been positive, although Green Party members of the council have been critical, saying the plan was “woefully poor” in its transport obligations and that it amounted to over-development.
The council's website says that the issue is still pending with the target date for a decision falling on September 6, but earlier this year Bath appointed as project manager for the stadium the company that has overseen developments at Twickenham and the Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea football grounds, Stace.
“We are delighted to have received such constructive and positive feedback on our planning application,” said Bath's chief executive Tarquin McDonald after announcing the appointment of Stace.
“This has enabled us to focus on the specific areas where we can further enhance the design, taking account of key considerations such as heights and important views.
“As we look ahead towards a planning committee later this year, it is the right time to bring new project management expertise on board and Stace brings a huge amount of industry experience in carrying this project forward successfully.” Bath were granted a 50-year lease in 1933 and in 1973 agreed a new one to run until 2048. In 1995, the club was given another 75-year lease, but the use of the ground was challenged in court only for a judge to rule in 2002 that the land was a charitable trust with the council the sole trustee, charged with ensuring the Rec was an open space and a recreational facility available for the benefit of the public at large.
It appeared to scupper plans to redevelop the ground and was the start of a long legal road that appeared to have gone against Bath in 2020 when a High Court judge ruled that nothing could be built on the site that neighbours could consider a nuisance under the terms of a 1922 covenant.
That was overturned on appeal the following year, allowing Bath to finally draw up and submit a full planning application. The end at last looks to be in sight.
