Revved-up Miles Reid is ready to step up another level

Bath’s 28-16 win over a stubborn Sale Sharks outfit last Friday night was a roll-up-the-sleeve type of game, the sort tailor-made for warriors like Miles Reid, for whom wearing the blue, black and white clearly means so much.

Another capacity crowd packed The Rec, despite Storm Amy making conditions very difficult for those playing and especially those watching.

But for versatile back-row Reid, whose father Mark played for the club in the 1980s, it suited him down to the sodden ground that the incessant rain made carrying in close quarters even more critical to the outcome: a bonus-point win for the defending champions.

Reid, 27, can always be relied on to make the difficult carries – the ones where the scrum-half needs that extra metre or two to clear his lines from the base of a ruck, or peeling away from a five-metre defending scrum to get the team out of trouble. Only two players – Northampton’s Callum Chick (35) and Bristol’s Benhard Janse van Rensburg (32) have carried the ball more than his tally of 31, according to Oval Insights.

He’s also as brave as they come in defence and is now starting to add good running lines – as demonstrated in his assist for Cam Redpath’s swallow dive try – to his turnover and tackle work.

In many respects, he’s a younger version of fellow Bathonian Tom Dunn in the way he gives everything to the cause, and they even now have the same shaven-headed look, so much so that the two were apparently mistaken for each other in commentary during the Sale match.

“I’ve been asked this question a few times, as you can imagine. I have decided to leave the hair before the hair has left me,” Reid said, explaining why he has lopped off his curly ginger locks in favour of a ‘No.1’.

Another question Bath supporters consistently ask is, ‘why hasn’t Reid received any England recognition yet? ‘ The fact that he has been overlooked, even for England A, says more about the depth of quality back-rowers in England than a reflection of his ability.

Reid, for one, is just happy to have started the first two games of the season for Bath, as competition for places is fierce even with Jaco Coetzee and Ted Hill sidelined with injury.

With internationals like Sam Underhill and Josh Bayliss for company, Guy Pepper playing out of his skin, and Alfie Barbeary back to full fitness after a niggling back condition, to do so is a rare luxury.

Last season, Reid only started half of Bath’s 20 league fixtures, four at No.8, including the final against Leicester, and six at openside, and appeared off the bench on three occasions.

“As long as I am out there on the pitch, I am more than happy,” he said, revelling in his early-season opportunities.

“I don’t think my game massively changes whether I am playing seven or whether I am playing eight. It just changes within the game plan.

“You look at all of our back row and how they can move around the back row, there are games you go into, where there might be a yellow or red card, someone may go off injured, and that adaptability is massive for the team.

“Everybody is confident in everybody around them. I think that is a real strength of ours.”

Another strength is the way Bath apply the pressure in the second half of matches by deploying their heavy-duty bench. In the season’s opener at Harlequins, Bath overturned a half-time deficit to run away with the match and win 47-31.

Against Sale, Bath might not have turned their second-half pressure into points until Max Ojomoh’s brilliant late touchdown, but it was clear to see which of the teams was dominant in that final half an hour.

Reid says that, as well as adaptability, the ability to shift through the gears as seamlessly as the Porsche he drives also breeds confidence.

“I think probably the biggest thing for me is that when our subs come off the bench, I know that they are so strong and we are going to finish the game well.

“And that goes for the wider squad as well. In training, lads who are not playing on the weekend are fighting hard and performing well. As a whole squad, it gives you massive confidence.”

Reid looks in great nick and partly attributes his early-season form to last year’s league title success – Bath’s first in 28 years.

“A Premiership title is something I have dreamed of my whole life. It gives you so much confidence and gives you a taste of knowing what you have to do to achieve that, and it just pushes you on more,” he said.

“A lot of people have asked me, when did the feeling of winning the final wear off, and kind of two weeks after it, you’re thinking of the next one already.

“Confidence has grown massively for not only myself but the whole team in the last couple of years.”