There will be no pressure on Bath Rugby when they take the field at Ashton Gate Stadium on Friday 31st October in search of their first win of the PREM Rugby Cup campaign, according to the trophy holders’ skipper Ewan Richards.
Bath Rugby will face Bristol Bears for the second time in under a week when they go to Ashton Gate Stadium on Friday 31st October. This time the sides will meet in the PREM Rugby Cup | Photo © Richard Briggs
It is the Blue, Black & White’s policy to give youngsters their chance in this competition.
And a youthful Bath side put up a great fight against an almost full-strength Exeter Chiefs line-up in their opener last month, only to be beaten 23-14 due to the Devonians scoring two tries late on.
And now Bath face a derby away day against Bristol Bears as they aim to kickstart their bid to retain the cup.
At Bath’s pre-Bears press conference on Tuesday 28th October, Yeovil-born Richards said: “I thought the team that played against Exeter, when I led that team out a few weeks ago, we showed great fight.
“I thought we had a really good game. It just didn’t go our way in certain areas but I thought we were still seeing glimpses from last season, how hard we’ve worked for each other.
“There shouldn’t be any pressure on us [against Bristol]. We’re going to go out there and just play our game.
“Lads getting opportunities – it’s an exciting time again this year.
“A lot’s happened since we won the trophy [by beating Exeter in March]. That was an unbelievable special day but it’s a new year now, so we’re going have a new sort of team, new young lads getting the opportunity.
“This is an exciting time for the club and the players to get after it on Friday night.
“I’m 23 so I guess I’m one of the old heads. I like that because when I see some of the young lads coming through, especially the new 18-year-olds this year, I was in their shoes once and it’s nice to see them get an opportunity and to be able to help them and lead them. It’s always special.
“I’m not a massive talker when it comes to leading, I like to speak by my actions.
“When I’m in that sort of environment, I just keep being myself. That’s all I can do and play the best game. I’ve got a lot of leaders around me that can help me as well.
“I’m pushing to get more opportunities with the 1st XV and I think last year gave a lot of boys confidence that we can easily do it and sort of step up when we need to.
“Even this season going forward, I think a lot of boys have stepped up when they’ve been given the opportunity.
“I think from last year it was a great success and now it’s about how we start from zero and go again this year and play more in the senior side.
“I’ve really enjoyed [playing in the PREM]. My opportunities in the PREM [this season] have come from a bit of misfortune for Ewelsy [Charlie Ewels] with the injury but I just have to fill in those shoes. It’s been unbelievable. It’s been good to get those minutes in.”
As for playing under the lights at the 27,000-capacity Ashton Gate this week, Richards said: “I really enjoy it there. It’s a great stadium. It can be a bit hostile sometimes for us Bath boys but it’ll be a good for the young lads to get the opportunity to play there for the first time, and for us [who’ve done it before] it’s just like ‘Yeah’. But stick at what we do and it should be a good evening.”
When Bath played Bristol at The Rec in the PREM on Saturday 25th October, the game featured plenty of derby niggle, including a player fracas that almost spilled into the front row of the South Stand.
Of the possibility of there being more needle in the cup tie, Richards said: “It’s about just sticking to our game – we don’t have to get involved in any of that.
“Sometimes it’s part of the game, it just happens, but we’ll be disciplined, control what we can do, control the controllables and hopefully we won’t see any yellow cards.”
With head of rugby Johann van Graan taking a back seat for the next block of cup matches and handing over team affairs to Ryan Davis, the man who started his coaching career with Cleve in Mangotsfield has the task of masterminding a second Bath victory over the Bears in the space of a week.
Davis said: “The biggest thing Johann probably gave me confidence on, he just said ‘Be yourself, I don’t want you to try to be anyone else other than what you do’.
“I think the boys will see through that straight away if you aren’t yourself and you’re trying to do something that you don’t naturally do, they’ll pull you on it. So I always try to speak to the lads – ‘What do you think?’ – and they’ll tell you pretty quick.
“You’re not just thinking about the attack, you’re not thinking around your area but the bigger picture, the messaging to the players, the squad, and then try to make sure that I’m myself but also aligned to what we’re trying to do at Bath.
“I learned a lot in the last two days. But it’s been quite exciting because we get an opportunity to go and put it out on the pitch on Friday.
“I think you’ll see a few youngsters step through. There’s been a few that have come this year, gone into the uni programme and really shone. We’ve got five or six that have been in the back line, two or three in the forwards. There’s massive cohesion.
“The big thing for us is that [on Friday] we still stick to what we do and how we play.
“Our identity is pretty clear. So I think come Friday night, there’ll be nerves. There’ll be players anxious about playing, a big crowd at Ashton Gate. But the way we trained today, yesterday and what we’ve done in pre-season, I think these boys are ready to roll.
“We’ve got to be adaptive on Friday night, but we’ve shown that when we stick to what we do, we’re pretty good at it.”
On what style of rugby he wants his team to play, Davis said: “It’s about how we play through a team and how we play around a team.
“I think at the moment we’ve got a very good balance with it.
“We haven’t selected the team as of yet but it’ll be a blend.
“I think there’ll be some of our senior players that haven’t played. I think probably five to six youngsters will be coming in, it will be their first year.”
And Richards, a former pupil of Millfield School in Street, said it is “quite special” that he is still working with Davis, who began coaching him when he was a schoolboy.
Richards said: “I remember the cold nights at Yeovil when Ry [Davis], Lills [Mark Lilley] and even Charts [Luke Charteris] took those under-18 sessions.
“It’s quite weird now, still having these coaches, it’s quite special. They’re doing a lot of work with the uni lads as well. So nothing changes, we all have the same mindset.”
Tickets for the Bristol versus Bath match are available here.
