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The Aviva Premiership Preseason Has Started So Why Do Bath Still Not Have A Head Coach?

By Lee Calvert
George Ford

It’s been a strange couple of years for Bath, one of the most decorated clubs in English rugby. This summer isn’t any different, writes Lee Calvert.

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For a neutral, Bath are a difficult club to hate. They’re something of an anti-Saracens. They have a history of playing good rugby and their Recreation Ground is a glorious throwback to the amateur days when everything smelt of liniment and you could punch anyone on the field – bar maybe the ref – with impunity. Bath itself, with its architecture, plentiful pubs and permanent miasma of rugby, is one of the best cities in the world to watch the game. If you haven’t been, go.

The 2014-15 season saw Bath reach the Aviva Premiership Grand Final playing a brand a rugby we could all get behind, with George Ford, Kyle Eastmond, Jonathan Joseph, young Ollie Devoto and Anthony Watson using coach Mike Ford’s inventive attacking patterns behind a decent pack. Even Matt Banahan, a man who looks like an Ikea wardrobe only with less pace, looked good. They lost to Saracens (boooo!) eventually, but the last twelve months have demonstrated that in the end everyone loses to Saracens, so there was no shame in that.  Despite the absence of Sam Burgess, whose value or otherwise is a whole other (very long) column, Bath started the 2015-16 season with optimism. The coaching staff of Ford and his very able deputies Toby Booth and Neal Hatley were in place along with the core of players who did so well the year before. “Time to build on the success” was the refrain from the fans and media.

They did this by finishing ninth after spending some of the season flirting with relegation, fielding a pack that at times barely warranted the name. There was George Ford playing with all the certainty of a nerd looking for a prom date, outside of the infuriatingly mercurial Nikola Matawalu. Japan No.8 Amanaki Mafi left the club amid reports of a bust-up over the club physio appointments list (I’m not joking) and the Samoan international flanker Alafoti Fa’osiliva was released after receiving a suspended prison sentence for assaulting a university student.

 
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Mike Ford left his post in May reeling from the bruises inflicted on a gameplan that had looked so very good a year ago, and with talk of disquiet in the dressing room over the Burgess fiasco and just about everything else that had happened in the last 12 months.

Despite the borderline disgrace of a season, recruitment has continued with Toby Faletua, Luke Charteris, Elliott Stooke and others coming in, while Kyle Eastmond and Ollie Devoto going out. But still the head coach position remains vacant with pre-season already underway.

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The Bath suits are reportedly in New Zealand to make kissy faces in the direction of Todd Blackadder and Tabai Matson, hoping to bring their good-fit-with-Bath Kiwi style across the world. If they say no then there is talk of Gregor Townsend, whose Glasgow team also play lovely rugby, being next off the rank.

Bath fans will rightly be asking why this is taking so long. The writing was on the wall for Mike Ford last Christmas but he stayed to the very end. Neal Hatley was allowed to go to England and yet, here the famous club is, weeks away from the start of the season with no head coach and nothing concrete in the pipeline.

Maybe they should just get Sam Burgess back?

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Trevor 1 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 5 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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