'That looked a season-defining game - you ask how do Bath come back from this?'
Pressure is mounting on Bath boss Stuart Hooper following his club’s thrashing at the hands of in-form Saracens.
Hooper’s team, who are bottom of the Gallagher Premiership table after opening their season with four consecutive defeats, shipped ten tries in a humiliating 17-71 home defeat.
This is the highest total Bath have conceded during their unbroken 34-year spell in English rugby’s top flight, while the 54-point margin of defeat at the Rec created another unwanted record.
It is 20 years since Hooper’s club last suffered four consecutive Premiership defeats, while their 45-point half-time deficit was the third highest in the league’s history.
BT Sport’s Ben Kay questioned whether the club’s owner Bruce Craig will consider changing the management team.
“The big worry for Stuart Hooper is not only that they haven’t had a win, but that things are getting worse since they started with a close defeat against Sale,” he said.
“As he admits, that performance is not good enough for anyone associated with Bath and he is going to be under pressure.
“Bruce Craig and everyone involved have to decide if they can make things better by making changes now and who’s available if they do want to.
“No-one wants someone to lose their job but they have to find some answers because that looked like a season-defining game and you ask how do Bath come back from this?”
Saracens put Bath to the sword at The Rec but Eddie Jones and England face an anxious wait over the fitness of two Lions. #BATvSARhttps://t.co/ummR2EwMyI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 17, 2021
Fellow pundit Topsy Ojo also pointed to some worrying signs.
“When you look at the playing staff you wonder how can a squad that talented look like they have no direction, bereft of ideas and completely shell-shocked?” he said.
“Were they physically and emotionally ready for that game? When your basic skills and ability to perform under pressure go missing you have to question the whole culture and direction and who is going to provide the answers when things are tough.”
Bath finished in seventh place last season which represented a disappointing return following a 2019/20 campaign which took them to a semi-final appearance.
Hooper is at least free of relegation fears due to the Premiership’s decision to further expand the league, but nonetheless his post-match comments acknowledged the scale of his concerns.
“It’s as bad as it gets, but our responsibility is to stand up and be counted,” he said.
“In every aspect of the game, physically, mentally, we were steamrollered today. They were hot today and we were spectacularly poor.
“There will be questions about me, my players and my staff, but the important thing is we keep looking each other in the eye and feel this pain together and move on.
“The players need to take responsibility but that starts with me. It’s a tough situation and it hurts, but when you’re in that situation you need to step up, stand up and be counted. That’s me, the rest of the staff and the players.”
Former Bath prop David Flatman summarised the situation with a typically wry tweet.
I never like seeing fans leave early, but the Bath traffic is particularly bad at the moment #beatit
— David Flatman (@davidflatman) October 17, 2021
Bath now face a daunting trip to champions Harlequins next Saturday.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why 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 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
4 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 comments