Bath Rugby coach Ryan Davis hailed Tom de Glanville for an excellent kicking display in the PREM Rugby Cup win over Bristol Bears on Friday 31st October.
Tom de Glanville had a perfect record with the boot for Bath Rugby at Bristol Bears on Friday 31st October, kicking seven conversions from seven attempts | Photo © Richard Briggs
Playing at fly-half, de Glanville had a perfect record of seven conversions from seven attempts as the Blue, Black & White destroyed their hosts 49-19 at Ashton Gate Stadium.
And Davis – who is leading Bath in the current block of cup ties while head of rugby Johann van Graan plans for the club’s assault on Europe – said at his post-match press conference: “Because of the way the forwards played, he [de Glanville] conducted, he was a conductor today.
“He had an armchair ride because of our physicality, and he kicked exceptionally well.
“And when we turned it on to play the width, you could see he was stepping up.
“I think he showed how much of a mature player he is.
“He’s diligent, very diligent [with kicking practice]. He kicks a lot, but in terms of the pressure of kicking at 10, he hasn’t done it for a while, so today I was really impressed.
“I thought in the team run yesterday [Thursday 30th October], he was getting frustrated with himself, but it didn’t break him at all today.”
Davis was delighted by Bath’s performance in the derby.
He said: “Physically we got into Bristol, which was good.
“Set piece operated, and I thought our forwards in the carry were exceptional at times.
“And then when our defence started to really put pressure on, we got a few transition tries.
“I thought it was a well-rounded performance, considering young boys, some old boys, and the three-day turnover for playing. So that was good.
“You can tell by our identity we’re a power team. So when we started to see the boys especially get into the tight and in close, we started to take bodies off feet, and we got in behind them, and once we had momentum, it was… I wanted the backs to get a few more [tries], but it was good, real solid performance.
“We obviously had a [game] plan, but the weather and the wind, I think that all turned up around about 7.30pm [15 minutes before kick-off], so things kind of changed a bit.
“But we just said ‘Look, we physically want to impose ourselves’ and the boys, especially in the back row – you think those are the boys that were in the semis and the finals last year – they did, and it gave us a lot of momentum. I think once that happened, the boys got the wind up their skirts.”
Despite the Blue, Black & White having an unassailable lead as the match entered its closing stages, they were determined to stop the three-try Bears crossing the line again to secure a bonus point.
Davis said: “That showed how we’re digging deep for each other, because we could’ve easily given them a bonus-point try in the last two or three minutes, but we didn’t, [we] defended them five metres out from the line and just showed our intent.
“The boys are in a great place that it’s not just about scoring points, we want to defend for each other as well.”
With regard to Bath possibly retaining the PREM Rugby Cup, which they won by beating Exeter Chiefs in the 2024-25 final, Davis said: “I think [the win over Bristol is] the right step for just showing the consistency in our performance with changes in the squad.
“Some boys haven’t played in a few months. Some are five, six weeks, and others have come back from injury.
“So I just think everyone knows what we’re all trying to achieve as a club and they’ve got to do their bit. It’s just the cog in the wheel. It’s good.
“Some of these boys have been playing for Bath Uni for the last five, six weeks, they put some really good performances together, and we had a game against [the University of] Exeter at The Rec and you can just see the confidence in these boys because they’re playing week in, week out, and that’s the best thing.
“And Johann is really trusting playing game time. So people like Charlie [Griffin], Tyler [Offiah], Jack Woods, come back from World 20s [World Rugby U20 Championship], they’re just confident and that’s what we want.”
With Bath having no game this weekend, their players are enjoying a well-earned week off.
Davis said: “They’ve got a week off, so those boys will get away. Some will be in if they’re injured.
“I think they deserve it [time off] after the block and obviously we’re going into quite a big block after that with short turnaround against Gloucester [on Friday 14th November] and Sale [on Saturday 22nd November].
“They deserve it and they’re ready to roll for it when we come back.”
