Can Bath emulate Liverpool and end decades-long Premiership title drought?
If there is one Gallagher Premiership club that will have been inspired by Liverpool ending 30 years of frustration, near misses and agonising second-place finishes by winning the Premier League title this season, it is Bath.
Bath’s 25-year domestic dry patch might fall just short of Liverpool’s stint, but given the smaller world of professional rugby in England relative to football and Bath’s position as one of the few financial giants in a landscape of unnerving balance sheets, it arguably makes their barren spell an even more disappointing one.
Like Liverpool, domestic and European cup success has come in that period, though runners-up medals in 2004 and 2015 are the closest the club has come to lifting the coveted Premiership title, where they were thwarted by the behemoths of the time respectively in London Wasps and Saracens.
During that time, the likes of Newcastle Falcons, Harlequins, Northampton Saints, Exeter Chiefs and Sale Sharks have all won titles of their own, whilst domestic rugby has largely been dominated by the trio of Wasps, Leicester Tigers and Saracens, with those three clubs accounting for 18 of the 23 titles since Bath last won the league.
Again, mirroring Liverpool, Bath are a club with a great pedigree in the sport, having been the flagship side in English rugby during the 80’s and early 90’s, though they have since seceded that moniker. Despite the financial resources Bath currently have at their disposal, the professional era has not been a kind one to the club, as they swiftly fell behind the duopoly of Wasps and Tigers when the amateur era came to an end.
When the 2019/20 season gets back underway in August, Bath will sit 6th in the table, only five points behind Northampton Saints in 4th, who are currently in possession of a playoff spot. It’s not out of the question that Bath could push themselves up into that mix as the season draws closer to its conclusion, though it would take an optimistic Bath fan to suggest that the team could end it’s long wait this season, with Exeter, Sale and Bristol Bears all looking particularly dangerous before Covid-19 brought the campaign to a grinding halt.
Nevertheless, there have been flashes from Bath this season. Green shoots that fans will hope is a signalling of a change in fortune for a club that, whilst intermittently having challenged towards the top of the Premiership, has settled into a competitive mid-table position for much of the past two decades. Optimistically, this season has reinforced that the Bath squad is talent-rich and deep in certain key positions.
Last summer, the club clearly put an emphasis on being stronger up front, as demonstrated by the signings of Lewis Boyce, Christian Judge and Will Stuart. Injected in alongside Beno Obano, Nathan Catt and Henry Thomas, as well as the soon-to-be arriving Juan Schoeman, Bath have as enviable a group of props as you are likely to find in the Premiership. Tom Dunn and Jack Walker, if he can stay fit, is an impressive one-two punch at hooker, too.
The back row is, for want of a better word, loaded. Taulupe Faletau, Zach Mercer and Sam Underhill are a formidable trio and they are pushed hard by Tom Ellis, Mike Williams and Josh Bayliss, with Bayliss now presented with the opportunity to try and replace some of the clinical fetching of Francois Louw.
Ben Spencer arrives from Saracens and adds to the quality in a group that already boasted Will Chudley, one of the most under-appreciated scrum-halves in the Premiership over the past five years, as well as Max Green and youngster Oliver Fox. They will be joined by academy product Tom Carr-Smith next season, too, with the Sherborne pupil among the more physical nines to come through English schoolboy rugby in recent seasons.
Already boasting a bright prospect in the form of Max Ojomoh in the centres, Bath also went out and added Cameron Redpath from Sale in a mid-season move that now gives them two contrasting and equally talented options in the midfield. Club stalwart Jonathan Joseph is also available whenever not on England duty and both Max Wright and Max Clark will be at the Rec for at least another season. The signing of Fijian international Josh Matavesi also gives Bath some extra cover during the Guinness Six Nations.
Finally, the back three is littered with game-changers, as Joe Cokanasiga, Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni and Ruaridh McConnochie jostle for position. Gabriel Hamer-Webb, in just his first season out of school, impressed enough to warrant an immediate uplift from a senior academy contract to a full senior deal. At full-strength, you will struggle to find a Premiership club who can match Bath’s quality at the position.
The match has been all but confirmed ? There are going to be more than a few disappointed folks with the eligibility decision though… #AllBlacks #SuperRugbyAotearoa #NorthvSouthhttps://t.co/dw3Y9TEbNi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 26, 2020
Of course, it’s not all roses in Bath’s garden, otherwise the club would likely have already ended their domestic title drought and there are still areas that need to be addressed if Bath are to emulate Liverpool and end that long wait.
At lock, Charlie Ewels and Will Spencer should form a productive partnership, though resources are relatively thin behind them. Josh McNally and Elliott Stooke are effective operators but should injury strike or England come calling for Ewels, Bath don’t quite have the depth at the position as some other clubs, especially with Matt Garvey leaving this summer. Ewan Richards and Ethan Staddon are two exciting talents coming on board this year from Millfield and Beechen Cliff respectively, though it is a big ask to have players as young as that contribute significantly at a position as physically-demanding as lock.
Another area where Bath look at least a little short is in the back three. As good as the quality is at the top of the group, the depth is lacking, with Cokanasiga and Watson regular England call-ups. The swift rise of Hamer-Webb helps, as does the evolution of Tom de Glanville as a full-back, rather than a fly-half, although Stuart Hooper will still be hoping that England don’t look too keenly at McConnochie and that Rokoduguni can stay fit next season.
Perhaps the most notable problem position currently for Bath is fly-half, where Rhys Priestland is the lone established option that the club can call upon. Freddie Burns has headed to Japan, Alex Davies has been released and, as mentioned previously, de Glanville is looking more and more like a full-back than a fly-half. Unless the club add someone else between now and the new season, that is a lot of potential responsibility going on to the shoulders of Orlando Bailey, who joins Bath’s senior academy from Beechen Cliff this summer.
The powers that be are not happy that information leaked out about the proposed clash. #AllBlacks #Kangarooshttps://t.co/D5j4rHZ2PH
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 25, 2020
Like Liverpool for much of the Premier League era, Bath have a XV that can go head-to-head with anyone. They have individual talents who could walk into teams all over the world. What they don’t necessarily have, though, is the depth across the board to survive injuries and international call-ups and topple Exeter at the top of the table, just as Liverpool didn’t have the quality throughout the squad to end the dynasty of Manchester United in the 90’s and 2000’s.
At 33, Priestland is probably not the orchestrator at fly-half that the club will aim to build around moving forward and finding the player that can provide that for them will be paramount. Hooper will at least have the next 12 months or so to take a closer look at Bailey and ascertain whether or not he can be that player in the future.
One more experienced lock, to help the club transition to the duo of Richards and Staddon in a few years’ time, would be helpful, as would a solid back three option or two, both of whom ideally wouldn’t be in the mix for international rugby.
Given that squad depth is going to be an issue for Premiership rugby clubs moving forward with the squeeze on the salary cap, the fact that Bath are reportedly one of the teams to have moved quickly to sign key players to new long-term deals – therefore circumnavigating the new lower cap – the club should have no excuses in terms of being able to field a squad capable of challenging for and lifting the Premiership title.
Of course, the likes of Exeter and Bristol will have plenty to say about that next season and beyond, though as foundations go for Bath ending this miserable spell, the club are far from in the worst position.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments