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'Flip-flops and ripped t-shirts - Bath were the boy band of rugby'

Bath celebrate their 1996 English Cup win (Photo by David Tyrrell/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Bath have not been a consistent heavyweight in the professional rugby era, their struggles continuing to this day with Johann van Graan, their latest coach, enduring a difficult first few months in charge in the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership season before some wins finally came to lift the team off the bottom of the league.

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It’s now 25 years since their first campaign in the professional era – 1996/97 – ended in failure. They had finished out the 1995/96 season, the last in England before the clubs turned pro, by claiming their sixth league title, pipping Leicester to first place by a point, and then defeating the Tigers to secure their tenth English Cup final title in front a then world record club attendance of 75,000 at Twickenham.

The following season, though, their amateur-era supremacy came apart at the seams with the sport going pro at club level. Bath finished six points behind the first-past-the-post league champions Wasps, they were knocked out of the cup in the round of 16 by Leicester and they were also defeated by Cardiff in the quarter-finals in the first Heineken European Cup campaign to feature clubs from England.

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Bath did gloriously get it right at the second attempt, becoming the first British side to lift the Heineken Cup when they defeated Brive in the 1998 final in Bordeaux. That incredible decider has now been brilliantly remembered in the latest episode of Rugby Stories, the BT Sport Pods series that has been recalling famous moments in the histories of the Premiership clubs.

This compelling story of the Bath European success, however, had its genesis in what unfolded during their haphazard 1996/97 attempt to make the transition from amateur to professional. Former Test-level duo Richard Webster and Andy Nicol were among those to shed light on those teething issues.

Ex-Wales forward Webster, who moved from the 1993 Lions tour into rugby league with Salford, recalled his first impressions of the professional-era Bath. “I went to the first game in a blazer and a tie like I would normally and they all turned up in flip-flops and ripped t-shirts. They were the pop stars, they were the boy band of the rugby world. They were confident.

“They did come from a very successful amateur era which I had watched and admired but then as they came into the professional era, it didn’t quite pay off. Brian Ashton was the head coach and he had this idea of complete rugby and he wanted the ball in play, he used to time us on how long we kept the ball in play.

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“He didn’t want it kicked off, didn’t want dead play, he wanted the ball to be played in the hands as much as possible so they were trying to play a brand of rugby and we wanted to be the best team but it wasn’t a marker and coming into the professional era, Europe became a marker but unfortunately we were off the mark for the first year.”

Ex-Scotland scrum-half Nicol, who was skipper for 1998 European final, added his take on how the Bath amateur-era dominance diminished in that first professional season after they failed to understand what the transition should have involved.

“It was appalling but we weren’t alone. When the game went professional nobody knew what to do. Nobody knew how to prepare a rugby team in a professional environment.

“The only team that did it well was Newcastle because under John Hall they were aligned to Newcastle United. They knew sports science, recovery, nutrition, all of that because Newcastle United Football Club had done it for years and years and years. The rest of the rugby teams were just making it up.

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“There was almost a blank sheet of paper. We went from training twice a week and playing on a Saturday to training twice a day and playing on Friday, Saturday, Sunday depending on when the TV game dictated it. It was like they filled each day with training and there was no real science to it.

“It was probably the science that was available at the time but you look back even five years into professional and you go, ‘Wow, we got that so wrong’. I don’t know who it was that said this but I’ll take credit for it if I can’t remember who it was – Bath were the most professional of amateur sides yet the most amateur of professional sides.”

Back to Webster, who compared life as a pro rugby league player to what he initially encountered at Bath. “I played for Salford for four seasons and in four seasons we never tackled each other once in training, we never did one physical contact session but when we went into the game in rugby league an unwritten rule is there are 13 of you and we were hard and 13 of you stand up and be counted.

“I have seen small backs, outside halves playing with broken arms until they get dragged off. That’s the unwritten rule but we never had to do it in training, it was always done on the field. I went to Bath and why I don’t think they grasped the professional era quite so much was we trained five days a week and every day we beat each other up in training.

“When we came to the weekend we weren’t quite as sharp as we should have been but I think it was a case of ‘we’re paying you, we’re paying you lots of money, you do as we say’ which didn’t really work out when it came to putting it out on the field on a Saturday.”

“We didn’t make that transition well at all,” agreed Nicol. “As I say we weren’t alone in that, it’s just I guess because of the success that Bath had had in the amateur era everyone just presumed that that success would continue and the mistakes that were made meant we probably came back in the pack a little bit.”

  • For the full Bath episode, check out BT Sport’s podcast series, Rugby Stories, part of the BT Sport Pods lineup of podcasts. Every Monday, Rugby Stories, presented by Craig Doyle, will spotlight and celebrate English club rugby history. Btsport.com/pods
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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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