Preview – Bath Rugby 2021/22
Bath 2021/22 Depth Chart
“I think we’re learning a new way of playing and we’re excited by it. David Williams says you play the score and you play the performance as well - two results from the game”
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Season Expectation: 10th
Key Signings: Danny Cipriani, Jaco Coetzee
The west-country side begin this year off the back of a number of underwhelming seasons, seemingly underperforming in relation to the talent in their club. Last season, Bath finished in the middle of the pile, 19 points adrift of the coveted Top 4. Whilst there were positives in Stuart Hooper’s side such as the emergence of Max Ojomoh as well as the consolidation of academy stars Miles Reid, Josh Bayliss and Tom De Glanville, a team with the quantity of internationals and high-calibre youngsters that they possess should be far more competitive. For a number of years now Bath’s biggest issue has been consistency, they’ve shown on a number of occasions that on their day they can beat almost anyone, but similarly they’ve dropped off too many games that were winnable both on paper as well as on the field. Late fades and the second worst defensive record has been Bath’s biggest blemish, and they’ll be looking to drastically improve because they certainly have the attacking prowess at their disposal.
Bath signed Danny Cipriani from west country rivals Gloucester and the mercurial fly-half will be expected to unlock the talents present in Bath’s ranks. Whilst many are excited about this signing, frankly, I believe they could have and should have spent their money in other departments. The departure of Zach Mercer is a noticeable loss despite their incredible back-row talent. The no.8 in the 2020/2021 season finished 3rd in defenders beaten and with the 10th most tackles (198), both his attacking and defensive talents will be sorely missed, not to mention he has visibly been Bath’s best and most consistent player for a number of years now.
On paper Bath do have a side that could be sniffing around the edges of the Top 4. Ben Spencer has been extremely valuable since coming over from Saracens and has brought stability and competence at the 9 which will provide Cipriani with crisp service to take advantage of the finishing power outside. Joe Cokanisaga and Ruaridh McConnochie are both great finishers of the brute and cunning type and their midfield operators, Cam Redpath and Jonathan Joseph, are both silky runners with good distribution skills. This team will be very dependent on their tight five providing a tidy and reliable set-piece that leads to fast front-foot ball and if their defence can produce turnover ball they will be dangerous. The arrival of David Williams as attack coack shows Bath’s intent to play to their strengths this season and expect them to be at the top of clean breaks and point scoring stats regardless of how successful their season is on the table. Cipriani has discussed the importance of connectors in their team, so look for their attack to diversify between forward pods attacking the midfield and linking with their outside backs. Cips game will also aggressively attack the game line and if they can generate line breaks they have back-rowers such as Bayliss that are capable of running excellent support lines and finishing off wonderful tries.
On paper that does sound exciting, but the reality is that in January and February teams don’t win games because of how many points they scored but how few they conceded and Bath have not addressed this concern at all. Whilst their pack is solid, their tight-five lacks momentum stoppers and they will be missing out on Taulupe Faletau, Sam Underhill and potentially Josh Bayliss during the international windows. Yet their biggest concern is their backline defence, whilst it holds massive offensive firepower, it compromises defensive nous. Bath’s season will be dependent on two crucial aspects; defence and consistency. If they fail to improve significantly in both aspects, I could see them dropping out of the top half of the table in the ever-more competitive Premiership.