Van Graan gives insight into Bath Rugby training sessions

Johann van Graan has given an insight into how Bath Rugby go about preparing for matches.

Johann van Graan at Bath Rugby’s pre-Gallagher PREM Round 7 media session on Friday 19th December | Photo © Bath Rugby

During the Blue, Black & White’s pre-Gallagher PREM Round 7 media session on Friday 19th December, the head of rugby revealed the composition of a week of training at their Farleigh House facilities in Farleigh Hungerford.

Van Graan said: “One of the things that we pride ourselves on is our process.

“It’s a word that means many different things to many different people.

“What that means for us is, when we come in on the first day of the week – this week it was a Tuesday because we played on a Sunday and the next game is on a Sunday – we always review what we did the previous week, the exact same.

“And then we take the learnings from it, and then we internally set back to zero and then we do our planning the exact same. And the reason for that is, from a personal point of view, this game has taught me so much, this game is life.

“You’re going have some injuries, you’re going have some ups, you’re going to have some downs, you’re going have some disappointments, sometimes you lose a game you should’ve won and sometimes you win a game you should’ve lost.

“So whilst mentioning all of those things, the group have been really good with our process, and then the second day of the week lets you 90% focus on ourselves, what are the areas that we need to keep on improving?

“And then the third training day of the week is we look at our opposition and every team’s got a play sheet, every team’s got kick-offs, every team’s got a kicking game, every team’s got some strengths and weaknesses.

“And then the last day of the week, it’s called the Captain’s Day although the Captain’s Day has changed so much over the last number of years, we refocus again on ourselves.

“Complacency is not a word that we ever use because we believe you respect every single team that you play against because you never know what the game is going to bring and ultimately it stays a game of rugby, different referee, different ball, different players, different plans.

“And then we’ve got to be fluid on the [match] day, and I’d like to think that that’s something that we’ve been really good with.

“Every day we try to find solutions.

“If you look at the Saracens game [in the PREM on Sunday 30th November], we were 14-0 behind [but won 36-29].

“The Munster game [in the Investec Champions Cup on Saturday 6th December], we were 28-0 up [and won 40-14], and then the Toulon game [in the Champions Cup on Sunday 14th December] was literally ebbs and flows up until 38-34 with that last penalty that Toulon got [on their way to a 45-34 win].

“So the exact same plan from our side for three different opponents.

“We’re obviously aware of what gets said on the outside, but that’s why the focus is on ourselves.

“So when we win we don’t necessarily listen to praise, and when we lose we don’t necessarily listen to that as well.

“Never too high, never too low, because this game keeps you humble and that’s the beauty of sport.

“So we want to perform on Sunday afternoon [at Newcastle Red Bulls in the PREM]. There’s a game to be won.

“Every Premiership game is a physical background and we’ll be prepared for that and we’re looking forward to it.

“That’s the most important bit, we’re really looking forward to Sunday afternoon.”

When asked what emphasis there is on catch/pass training at Farleigh House at this time of year, van Graan said: “We spend multiple occasions in a week on catch/pass, different skill bits in our days.

“Some of it is inside, some of it is outside. Some of it is pre-training, after training, in training, some of it is off the pitch.

“We found ways that work for the group and we always live in the present but we plan for the future and we know that the weather will turn again. So our skill is important to us.

“But when you get an opportunity where the conditions are good or bad, we’ve got to use it, and I’ll use the example of Max Ojomoh’s pass to Louie Hennessey [for the latter’s 75th-minute try at Toulon], both players executed that skill perfectly.

“And I’d like to think if you look at some of the handling of some of our forwards, it’s been exceptional over the season.

“We keep working on our skill regardless of the conditions.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we’re consistent and that contains many different things – respect for our opponents, we want to focus on our set piece, our attack, and our defence, and this is about players getting better, and that’s something that the player drives, and Louie’s a great example of that and the squad is a great example of that.”

Consistency is very important to van Graan – and he hailed Bath’s adaptability.

He said: “One thing that we’ve done really well as a group is we’ve been in the [Premiership] top four since Round 1 of the 2023-24 season when we played Newcastle.

“So that’s something that we certainly want to keep getting better, and the only thing that’s proved is the fact that we’ve been consistent for a very long time.

“Never too high, never too low, keep getting better, keep learning, and most important, keep enjoying this journey that we’re on because we’re absolutely loving it.

“I think rugby goes in circles.

“You get cycles, you get law changes, you get trial law changes. I think it’s about which teams adapt to it the best.

“You can play this game in many different ways.

“Last season, I’ll take you back to the Dupont Law when that changed, I thought we adapted pretty well.

“I’d like to think that we’ve been a team that’s adapted pretty well to… let’s call it the axis.

“Personally I think the game, and, more specifically, the Premiership, is in a great place.

“We’ve got many teams playing many different ways.

“It’s who adapted the best and you can score tries in many different ways.

“We’ve been good enough to consistently score more than four tries [in a game].”