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Bath explain their 'keeping the foot on the throat' attitude
Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan savoured a six-try, 41-24 victory over Exeter having earmarked it as one of the big games of the season. “I knew this was going to be a battle,” he said.
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“We prepared that way and we started really, really well, going 12-0 up. This was one of our best-disciplined performances but in the first entry we gave them (to our 22), they scored off the one phase.
“Going into half-time we spoke about it being a 23-man effort and that we had to manage the weather and the big moments. I felt we did that in the second half.”
He added: “We managed their yellow card really well in terms of getting momentum, something that we have worked on – keeping the foot on the throat.
“I thought we created a lot in the first half. Not everything went to hand but we had a dominant scrum and the lineout went well tonight. Once we got over the gain line we were difficult to beat.”
Sam Underhill was awarded player of the match and van Graan was not about to disagree with that verdict, saying: “I thought he was really good, with some big moments, not only defensively but also from an attacking point of view: his running lines, his offloading decisions, when to keep the ball and when to offload.”
Attention now turns to the Investec Champions Cup and the visit of Ulster to The Rec next Saturday, with every likelihood that Bath tighthead Thomas du Toit will confront his fellow Springbok Steven Kitshoff.
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Van Graan said: “We fought so hard last season to be in the Champions Cup. It’s a competition that I love. With the club I coached before [Munster], I learnt so much about what it is about and its history. We will enjoy tonight and on Monday morning it’s all about the Champions Cup.”
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said he could look “very positively” at his side’s showing in the first eight games of the league season, but lack of discipline undermined their effort against Bath.
“The yellow card murdered us; in that period of the game where it got away from us. But by the time that happened, we had been the architects of a lot of what happened at the end.
“Our penalty count at one stage was 13-3. I genuinely know the lads are working hard but sometimes, how quickly we lose the direction of our energy is quite scary. We scramble really well, which is part of what we are good at, and then someone goes off their feet and it’s a penalty.
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“Then it’s territory, then it’s a try and we are on the back end of the scoreboard through a lack of discipline. We need to find the root causes.”
Reflecting on the first eight games and happy that his side had scored three tries and been competitive throughout most of the game, he added: “We have had some good results and we are kind of at the right end of the table and that’s nice. We need to be careful we don’t expect too much of this squad though.”
- Click here for all the RugbyPass stats from the Bath versus Exeter Premiership game
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments