Spotlight On - Bath Rugby

When asked to describe the 'Bath Style' Head Coach Toby Booth replied with the following: "to be as positive as you can whilst being adaptable to what's going on around you. Ideally you love to play with the ball in hand all the time, but we've got to the smart about it” and smart they are. 

On many occasions last season the quality of Bath's rugby left us wide eyed with joy as their backs cut lines that many can only dream of and their forwards made the foundations of The Rec shake. However come the end of the season they fell short in both the Aviva Premiership and the Amlin Challenge Cup and that hurt them, a lot. Bitterly disappointing is the best description, a failure the harshest and educational the fairest.

Reading through their squad list it is easy to see why the management has so much belief in its existing squad and why signings have been limited. George Ford, Stuart Hooper, Francois Louw, Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni, Matt Garvey, Leroy Houston... I could continue but for all of our sakes I won't. The point is this; Bath’s squad is brimming with talent and still has a great deal of potential to realise. George Ford only arrived at the beginning of last season and is just 21 years old, Anthony Watson is just 20 and they key units in the back row and half backs by their own admission still have more to learn about each other. Everywhere you look at The Rec there is talent in abundance and the responsibility lies with Mike Ford, Neal Hatley, Toby Booth and Darren Edwards to get the very best out of them.

Bath's signings are few in number; Henry Thomas, Nick Auterac and Grant Shiells will add front row depth whilst Luke Arscott must fill the shoes of Nick Abendanon. As we all know there is one more and the final signing will be late to the party but boy will he be worth the wait; enter Sam Burgess. Burgess' transition will be scruitinised to the nth degree and arguments will occur all over the country regarding his best position. However this won’t phase Bath nor should it impact on the man himself. For what it is worth here are my opinions; Burgess is an extremely talented athlete, a consummate professional and a born winner. He will not be satisfied until he gets to the very top of the game and rugby union is extremely lucky to have him.

Overall Bath have all of the elements required to succeed in the 2014/15 season however they must be careful not to put too much pressure on themselves in their quest for glory. Their depth will be stretched with the European Champions Cup however they will, quite rightly, fancy their chances against the Glasgow Warriors, Montpellier and Toulouse. Back in the domestic competition they must use their disappointment to their advantage, let it fuel their fire and continue to develop their 'Bath Style'.