Bath boss Johann van Graan hails forgotten England prospect

Bath boss Johann van Graan hailed the influence of number eight Alfie Barbeary after he starred in a 61-26 EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Gloucester.

Uncapped Barbeary scored two of Bath’s nine tries and he was a dominant force throughout the Recreation Ground clash.

“The reason I signed him two years ago was because of his Test potential,” Van Graan said.

“When we started this journey together, one of the first things we were looking for were ball-carriers and I believe he is one of the very best ball-carriers.

“I compare him to someone like CJ Stander (ex-Ireland and Munster back-row forward). You don’t get a lot of players in world rugby that can carry in tight spaces.

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“He (Barbeary) has got this ability to be in the right place at the right time. He has worked very hard on his game, he has worked very hard on his fitness and he is a very important player for us.”

Bath booked an appointment with Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, 17 years after they last won the tournament when current England head coach Steve Borthwick captained them to victory over Worcester.

A trip to the Scottish capital now awaits and the runaway Gallagher Premiership leaders remain in sparkling form.

Barbeary apart, there were also touchdowns for Tom de Glanville, Tom Dunn, Archie Griffin, Ben Spencer, Jaco Coetzee, Ted Hill and Tom Carr-Smith, with Finn Russell kicking eight conversions.

Bath, having already won the Premiership Rugby Cup, are chasing a trophy treble with the Challenge Cup and Premiership title both on their radar.

Captain Ben Spencer said: “I think the hunger comes right through the squad, the guys who are not necessarily playing week, week out and it filters right through to the guys who are lucky enough to take the field.

“The great thing about this squad is it keeps wanting to improve and get better. We park the last result quickly and we move on to the next result. There is massive hunger within the squad.”

Gloucester were in contention throughout much of the first half and they scored tries through Santi Carreras, Jack Singleton, Jake Morris and Lewis Ludlow – Carreras added three conversions – but Bath never seriously relinquished their grip on the contest.

Reflecting on the result, Gloucester rugby director George Skivington said: “We were beaten in every facet.

“We had a good week and I thought we were in a good spot, but I was obviously wrong. We have not played that poorly for a long time.

“We made errors and it snowballed. This is a tough one to take. I wasn’t expecting this to be a high scoreline, I thought it would be a lot tighter.

“They (Bath) are a well-oiled machine. It is hard to know what 23 you are going to come across, so they are hard to analyse.

“They are going to be hard to stop. They have got the numbers and they could go and do a treble.”