Johann van Graan admitted that his Bath Rugby side were not at their best on Saturday 18th April – even though they romped to a crushing victory over Harlequins.
Bath Rugby crushed Harlequins 48-15 here at The Rec on Saturday 18th April to remain just one point behind their next opponents Northampton Saints in the Gallagher PREM table | Photo © Richard Briggs
The Blue, Black & White remain just one point behind leaders Northampton Saints in the Gallagher PREM table after whipping Quins 48-15 at The Rec.
And at Bath’s post-match press conference, head of rugby van Graan said: “Great to have played at home for three weekends in a row.
“After the high of the last two weeks in the [Investec] Champions Cup [with wins over Saracens and Northampton], it was important that we backed it up in the Premiership.
“We scored 48 points at home, and eight tries to two. Satisfying.
“Certainly not our best performance of the season.
“There’s one or two that got pulled back. But from my side, we came for five [points]. We got five, and we’re looking forward to a new week now.
“This certainly wasn’t a classic but for us the most important bit was win the game, get a bonus point, and we got our five points.
“As in every game, there will be some learnings. We’ll enjoy the win tonight, important that we enjoy it.
“If you look in the Premiership and in the Champions Cup, I think that’s eight wins in a row. So we’ve got to make sure that we enjoy those as well.
“There will be things that we can do better.
“I thought one or two bits around the ruck…
“Quins came hard, and they’re very good in that sense, and we spoke at half-time about adapting to the interpretation.
“I thought we were a lot better second half, and we will follow our process Monday morning, review it, take two or three main points, and crack on.”
The match highlighted Bath’s success in bringing through young players.
Van Graan said: “In our tight five today you’ve got – let’s call it a more younger generation – Scotty Kirk and Billy [Vilikesa] Sela and Ewan Richards.
“You’ve got two of the elder men in [academy graduates] Tom Dunn and Charlie Ewels, and there’s such a good mix in the squad, and, ultimately, I think that’ll be amazing for Bath in the years to come.
“It’s not only the players that we’ve recruited and we’ve retained, it’s the players that are coming through from the bottom.
“Bath Uni are in the [British Universities & College Sport Super Rugby Milk Championship] final on Wednesday [22nd April], Beechen Cliff [School] have won the ACE League, the 18s have played in three finals consecutively.
“So now across all levels we’re doing well, and, ultimately, that’s the sign of a good system.
“It’s not so much who you bring in, it’s who you bring through, and Billy’s a great example of that.
“I met Billy three years and 10 months ago, and it’s great to see the progress that he’s made.
“He’s a great example of so many players in the squad, players that are coming through the academy and are getting better, guys coming out of the school system in Bath.
“I think you set up players to succeed, you don’t set up players to fail, and you bring guys through gradually, and you give them opportunities once they’ve earned it.
“Scotty and Billy played a few weeks ago against Sale away [on Sunday 29th March], and a few weeks later they’re now together again as a partnership.
“The beauty of our club is you give guys opportunities – and I’ve said it so many times, this is about a squad.
“We use Thomas [du Toit] in a very specific way.
“And we’re a group, we work with each other, we don’t work against each other.
“So whether it’s Billy or Thomas or Verdo [Kieran Verden] or Griff [Archie Griffin], we’re all trying to get better together, and fair play to Billy, I thought it was a very good performance today.”
Van Graan had to change his plans on matchday, as skipper and scrum-half Ben Spencer was withdrawn from the 23 because of a shoulder problem.
“Ben’s got a bit of a shoulder, so it was one of those moments where we could have played him but he was in a bit of discomfort, so we decided not to risk him,” said van Graan.
“We’ll put him back on the pitch when he’s ready to play next.
“We made the call just before the game.
“It doesn’t matter who steps up. TC [Tom Carr-Smith] I thought was exceptional, that inside ball that he took for his try, and I think that one of the strengths of our group is it’s just the next man in, and it’s about the squad, and I thought TC did really well.
“And I thought [replacement] Bernard [van der Linde] came onto the field and did equally well.
“So well done to those two lads for stepping into some very big shoes.”
The head of rugby also praised Santi Carreras, who played at full-back and then at fly-half against Harlequins.
“I think he started going really well today, that interception [for his first of two tries], excellent read, and he just glided on the field,” said van Graan.
“That’s one of the things that struck me when I started watching him a few years ago.
“He’s got this ability to just glide and the try that he made in the left-hand corner, such a special player.
“I thought his all-round game was very good today.
“We decided to take Finn [Russell] off early today and give Santi some time at 10, and I thought that was a very good performance.”
Next up for a Bath is a clash of the titans in the PREM – a Round 14 game against the Saints at the cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday 25th April.
Northampton hold pole position by a point from the second-placed Blue, Black & White. But the Midlanders needed a last-gasp try to see off hosts Exeter Chiefs on 18th April.
Van Graan said: “They’re a very good side.
“They scored that winning try in the last minute today.
“Huge respect. We played them a week ago [in the Champions Cup on Friday 10th April] and we’re playing them again.
“We’ve already made some decisions as to how we’re going to approach the next few weeks, so we’ll just make sure that we run our own race.
“We’ve got the utmost respect for Northampton, Franklin’s Gardens is one of the amphitheatres to play in, and we’re playing them again at 5.30pm on Saturday, so looking forward to meeting them again.”
