I Love Bath Rugby

The Black, Whites and Blue at home will take on Treviso to start their quest of Pool 5.

Bath Rugby will start their campaign of European Champions Cup by hosting Benetton Rugby Treviso (BRT) at the Rec.

In the pool 5, the Italians are the team that are lowest seeded and except the bonus-point nothing will satisfy the coaches in case the Black, Whites and Blue are to play against the Toulon and Scarlets and if they progress to the level of the quarterfinals in the championship. This will also bring the positivity in the team. So, the team has to work really hard.

That opener on 14th October starts at 5.30pm, and it is followed by a West Wales trip on 20th October. The Toulon, who is the three-time European champions, will be the opposite to the team in the double-header of December.

In Provence, the Bath will visit Stade Mayol in Provence – where in 2015/16, they were defeated.

The fixtures of the pool will be concluded in January with a home match, who will be played against the Scarlets and the match will be followed by Italy trip. However, the correct dates and time to start the match have not been confirmed yet, by the organizers of the competition.

As far as the preparation of teams is concerned, then both seem completely positive to take on the match. The players of the teams are all set to give tough fight to their opponent. Most of them are in good form and thus, the players are going to give some of best match moments to the spectators and their fans. More information about the match can be collected from the internet and also from the official websites of the participating teams.

Chris Brookerjoined Bath Rugby for his second term at the club in a contract that will run until the end of the season to ease a spate of front-row injuries.

The Director of Bath Rugby, Todd Blackadder made known in one of his statement, what he feels about the signing of the talent.

“It is to our satisfaction to have been able to sign someone who is this experienced, Chris at this stage in the season,” Blackadder said after the confirmation of Brooker’s transfer from Bristol.

“Injury has caused the unavailability of Tom Dunn and Jack Walker in recent weeks, therefore, having Chris in the team will be a notable step-up heading into a critical part in our season.” he added.

Blackadder also noted that the month had been quite a very busy one for them as they had been here and about putting finishing touches to one contract or the other.

He however believes that with their signings so far, they are ready for the next season.
Blackadder also talked about Shaun and Michael being another two players that they had identified as important role players at the club, stating that he was sure the duo would be a great advantage to the team during their time.

The 31-year old Brookerappeared to be an auxiliary figure for Bristol this season, as he only started one Premiership match in all his seven appearance, while other matches have been only on the bench.

His last time of playing for Bristol was against Pau in the European Challenge Cup in December, when he scored two tries in a 41-14 Ashton Gate victory, preceding the expiry of his contract with them.

Bath Rugby happened to be Brooker’s first professional club after the English man, who has successfully made 39 appearances since making a move to his hometown club, left Colston’s Collegiate.

A decision has been made by Bath Rugby to keep George Ford on rest for the next games.

George Ford, an England international player that played maximum games of the Six Nations will be taking a weekend off mandatorily in the four weeks of the following tournament. George Ford is bath Rugby’s one of the best fly-half. He started showing interest in the game when he was 11 years old at Rishworth School before he joined Leicester when he was 16. He was in fact the first Englishman to have won IRB Junior Player of the Year in 2011. Also, he was the youngest winner.

Todd Blackadder, the director of Bath Rugby confirmed officially on 25th March that Ford would sit out of European Challenge Cup quarter final that would be held against Brive. On the other hand, Rhys Priestland will be expected to come back as he has recovered from an injury. During the Six Nations, the team had planned Ford for this game.

However, after considering the health of Ford, the director said that he would be resting for this game.

Blackadder appreciated the fact that in spite of his health condition, Ford did a splendid job of being there last week. He was unable to train due to his sore back. There is no denying that Ford is a tough man and taking this decision was indeed tough for the director and Bath Rugby. The team wants Ford to rest now so that he can soon come back strong to play. Bath Rugby would have been playing at Twickenham against Leicester if Ford did not rest. They are making him rest now so that they can get Worcester out of the way. There will be an announcement made soon on the team facing Brive on 31st March.

The game between Bath and Gloucester had not started on a good note for Bath as there had been a few slip-ups.

However, they were able to pick up momentum, hold onto a 17-10 before Gloucester equalized, thus ending the game in a draw. However, Todd Blackadder – the Director of Rugby for Bath – has said after the game that he did not hold any high expectations before the game, but came off very pleased by the performance of his players.

Although he would have loved it if his men had been able to hold onto their seven-point lead in the last few minutes of the game, he believes they would be ready in time for their Premiership challenge game against rival Northampton Saints, to be played in the next two weeks.

Speaking after the game, Blackadder had said,

“I wasn’t so much focused on the outcome. Tonight, it was about the development and giving guys an opportunity to play. I didn’t go in with high expectations, but I walked away feeling very proud of the guys.”

The Director of Rugby added: “I was really impressed. To think that we were down and gave ourselves a chance to win the game was fantastic. The only down side was conceding a really soft try when the game should have been in the bag.”

Blackadder also noted that his forwards had done quite well in the game and had been the most impressive, considering the fact that they were all young guys, under 23s who had not yet experienced much game time.

He also commended some of the players such as Paul Grant, Chris Cook, Rhys Priestlandand Jack Wilson for their wonderful performances, while singling out Harry Davies for his crucial hand in their only try of the game.

Director of Rugby for Bath Rugby, Blackadder recently talked about some of the leadership positions in the club and went on to explain he choose Matt Garvey and not Guy Mercer to be the on-field captain.

He also went on to talk about how and why he prefers to divide up Bath Rugby’s leadership roles.

This season has seen notable players like Matt Garvey, George Ford, Guy Mercer and Rhys Priestland take leadership positions in the team, either on their own or with the other as co-captains.

At the Stoop last Sunday, the honor to lead the club as captain was given to Garvey, despite having named Mercer as team captain when the season began.

This had left some of the journalists and fans confused so Chronicle had asked Blackadder why he prefers leadership positions to be dynamic.

Blackadder had gone on to explain saying,

“Being club captain is about the team and welfare side of it – making sure all the players are happy.

“On the field, Guy has been leading the team in the Challenge Cup and Anglo-Welsh Cup, which still gives him that on-field leadership.”

“Garvs is going to be a regular Premiership starter for us, as is George. I think it’s really good to share the on-field leadership.”

He noted that it would be hard for any of the players to take on leadership positions both on the field and off the field as he sees it as something that could be incredibly draining, considering the demands and length of the season.

The director of rugby was quite happy with his choice of Mercer as captain as be believes he has been done quite well and setting good examples.

“I’ve been really impressed with what Guy’s done off the field,” he had added.

That title might be confusing. But here is the deal.

A Bath Rugby fan was stuck in open day traffic. As the parents get stuck in the traffic, the baby almost born on London Road. Well, the parents Jennifer Miller and Phil are huge fans of Bath Rugby. Being diehard fans of the club, they wanted to give birth at Bath’s Royal United Hospital. They rushed to the hospital when her water broke. However, she had to give birth to the baby while stuck in the traffic. The baby was born around lunchtime. It’s a girl and they named her Megan.

Bath Rugby is also delighted to hear this news as they have a brand new supporter of the club. They hope that this new supporter will be lucky for them in the upcoming games. Even if not, they are more than happy to have this little fan. How did their story get media attention? Well, it was filled with so much drama, as is the case with all the Bath stories.

Well, on the day she was born, Phil was all set to go to the stadium to see his home team play. The team was supposed to play against Worcester. But he had to cancel all his plans when his wife Jennifer went into labor, which was fast moving without any doubt. They live in Holt and left for the hospital assuming that they will reach the hospital in 30 minutes. It was university open day. And it was game day for Bath Rugby. Now you can imagine the kind of traffic on the road.

Phil wanted to use the bus lane. But being a police officer, Jennifer didn’t let him do that even though she was screaming in pain. After a while they realized that they wouldn’t make it to the hospital on time. Well, now you know how we have the story of the London Road baby.

Bath rugby team is on a high as they defeated the Tigers with a thorough run.

Peter Betham and his strategies were good and effective in defeating the Tigers. Mike Ford is the head coach for Bath team, stated that the win was great for him. However, in terms of how the team performed, it could have been a lot better. He felt that the motivational speech at half time did the work. It helped drive in the energy required by the team to win. They were able to put in the extra energy as well as extra yard that were required for the win.

Bath team definitely ended their season on a high. They welcomed Leicester Tigers at the home ground Rec. They did not maintain good form through the season though. In order to reach Aviva Premiership final they had to put up a lot of struggle last year. This year the team was in better shape. However, there were still a lot of doubts as to whether they will be able to play the final game well. That is because some of the players were injured before they were ready to play against Bath.

There was several other ambivalent information that made fans unsure at first about how the team will perform in the final match. The medical chief of the club and Amanaki Mafi had some altercation. Twitter also showcased news of Horacio Agulla leaving the team by the end of the current season. As a result, it was not sure how the team would perform in the final match. Once the team started to play against the Tigers, there was a lot of tension in the air. However the final session saw them pulling through. As a result, the team and their fans ended the season on an optimistic note.

On Thursday, in Manchester, Brisbane Broncos chief Wayne Bennett has been unveiled as the new coach of the England rugby league team.

He will also continue his existing role in the NRL. Bennett is the 3rd Australian to coach one of the top England national squads with his fellow compatriot Eddie Jones in charge of the rugby union team and Trevor Bayliss in-charge of the cricket teams.

Wayne Bennett, who is considered as the greatest coach of the modern era, will be in-charge for 2 seasons.

The sixty-six year old Australian stated that he would not be happy unless the sports become one of the dominant games in the world. He stated that this is a great product. He wants people to talk about rugby and get a bit of passion going. If people do not talk about the national team or the players in hotels, coffee shops and offices, then it is a problem.

Since the announcement, sales of tickets for England’s next game against New Zealand have through the roof, with www.liverugbytickets.co.uk also reporting record numbers of requests after the match was confirmed a sell-out. There are reasons to be optimistic.

Wayne Bennett has a great influence in making both New Zealand and Australia the top 2 teams in the world. The performance of these two teams has gone through magnificent improvement in recent years.

Bennett added that he was not surprised about England’s poor run earlier. He added that for a long time England had wrong people in responsibility at various stages and they had taken many poor decisions. They went through a lot of coaches and players and it does not work. The best organizations are ones that have good stability. He also praised his predecessor. He said that Steve has done a great job in the past few years.

Rhys Priestland, the fly half for the Welsh region side Scarlets has said that his summer move to the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club Bath Rugby may as well be harmful for his career as a Welsh international.

Warren Gatland, the head coach of the Wales Rugby Team favours players based in the country while selecting his line up for the national team. However, Priestland says that he is more than happy with his proposed move despite the adverse effects it might have on his career with the Dragons.

The 28 year old said that he is comfortable with his decision but he added that he does think it will indeed have a negative effect on his international career.

However, he has no regrets and has said that it is something that he will learn to live with.

The Welshman came off the bench to earn his side a last gasp winner against bottom club Zebre in the Pro 12 in his latest match for the club.

According to the Welshman, it will be difficult for him to swap the region for Bath Rugby, especially with his former outside half rival Stephen Jones returning to the club as an attack coach for next season. He said that he definitely would have loved working with Jones, adding that he believes he is a very knowledgeable person and a good human being as well.

He mentioned that it was a shame when he heard that he was coming back but he said that he had already made up his mind about his move to Bath Rugby by that time and there was no looking back for him. He said that he believes Stephen Jones will be able to do a great job at the club, but he will miss out on working with him.

The coach of Bath Rugby Union team, Neal Hatley is of the opinion that Exeter, their opponent in the match scheduled to be held on 28th February, Saturday, will be under a lot of pressure.

The match will be held at Sandy Park. So far in the competition, the Bath Rugby Union team has not been able to win three matches. Two matches out of three that they have lost were against Northampton Saints and Saracens. Northampton Saints team is currently in the topmost position in the competition and the Saracens team currently holds the third place.

There is only a difference of four points between Bath Rugby which currently holds the second place in the league table and Wasps team, which is at present in the seventh place.

Bath Rugby team’s six players are not being able to play for the team in this competition as they’re currently playing in Six Nations rugby competition, but Coach Hatley is unwilling to say that this has put the team at a disadvantageous position.

The intensity of competition between the teams is such that there is a very narrow margin of points that separates each team and even within one week, the position of a team could drastically deteriorate or improve. Coach Hatley has said that this is known to all the players of the team and he added that the matter would be different altogether if the match was the last one of a season. He said that there are six more matches in which the team would participate in this season and there’s also 30 more points that a team can win in this season. Coach Hatley has said that his team and the number of games remaining are the two reasons for which he considers his team to be still at an advantageous position.