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Bath make dramatic u-turn over Priestland

By Online Editors
Rhys Priestland. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

In January Bath announced that Rhys Priestland would be leaving the West Country outfit at the end of the season.

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But just three months later there’s been a sensational u-turn by the Gallagher Premiership club.

“It’s taken a while to get to this point but the process has been completely transparent all the way. This has always been an incredibly important contract for me at this stage of my career and I am delighted to be staying at the Club”, Priestland said.

“We are all striving to be better at what we do every day from the squad to the coaches and I really believe that our best performances lie ahead of us.”

He has signed a new two-year contract with the club which will keep him at the club until 2021.

Director of Rugby, Todd Blackadder, added: “It is no secret that we have been looking at a couple of specific options. However, this has never diminished the faith we have in Rhys. He is an incredibly respected member of our group and we know he will continue to commit to our future direction and help us achieve the success we are all striving for. We believe we are all building something special here at the Club and Rhys has already been and continues to be, a huge part of that.

“There are many moving parts to recruitment and no one contract sits in isolation. We are now in the final stages of our recruitment for next season and alongside our other recruits and the players that we have retained, we are excited about the squad that is being built here and we are incredibly happy with where Rhys sits within this and the role he plays in our future.”

Capped 50 times by Wales, Priestland joined Bath ahead of the 2015/16 season from Scarlets. The fly-half has made 74 appearances, scoring over 350 points in the Gallagher Premiership and will remain with the Blue, Black and White until the end of 2020/21.

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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