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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bristol feel playoff pressure as Premiership finale promises tries
There will be tries. That is hardly a revolutionary prediction in a sport that has long since rained down on us the 21st century's manna of entertainment at all costs, but even by those standards this weekend's last round of the Premiership promises bounty. The science of prediction is at best hit and miss, but one blind alley all too many 'experts' get lost down is consideration of tactics, gameplans and the like, when all that really matters is a team's motivation. Purity of desire is a special ingredient in a side's prospects for any individual match. This weekend we have five matches, and they all might be summarised as a team with something to play for versus a team with nothing. That is an explosive mix at the best of times, but in this era of tries, tries and outrageous comebacks it is all the more so. Team A is chasing a place in the playoffs, so they burst into the match like men possessed. Either they rack up a massive score in no time at all and relax, whereupon Team B start to chance their arm, because why not; or Team A overextend themselves in pursuit of their goal, and Team B pick them off, because all of these teams can play the rugby of the gods. Either way, there will be tries. Bath are top of the table, and the only side mathematically guaranteed a place in the playoffs. They have scored 92 tries across 17 matches, a rate of 5.4 a match, comfortably the highest of any team in Premiership history, bar this season's second highest try-scorers – see below. People talk about the Premiership's entertainment quotient as if it were a new thing, when actually it has been so for several years. For context, 2009-10 was a nadir in rugby union's quest for entertainment at all costs. It is difficult to say why this was the case. The dreaded experimental law variations had come in the summer before but had never taken off. A personal memory, nevertheless, of the season that followed is of teams terrified of having the ball, because of the leeway afforded to that most dread of concepts, 'the jackler'. Check all the data about tries scored, metres gained, line breaks, all the usual indicators of a 'good match', and they are way down for that one season, across all competitions. Bath, as it happens, finished the regular season as top try-scorers in 2009-10 as well, with 49 tries across 22 matches – or a rate of 2.2 tries a match. So there has been quite some progress on that front. It happened more quickly than most commentators would have it, but there is no denying, too, that with each season the entertainment quotient has continued to climb – and this has already been the best yet. This weekend, Bath have nothing to play for. They have just won their second piece of silverware this season, the Challenge Cup, but they have done all they can to position themselves advantageously for the one they really want, the Premiership. All you could say is that they might want to finish off the one side who have dominated this competition in recent years, Saracens, once and for all. Saracens host Bath this weekend, and qualification is out of their hands. It feels weird just writing that. They will have to win anyway, with maximum points, and hope enough teams slip up ahead of them. All the while keeping at bay the most prolific team in Premiership history. There will be tries. Leicester, champions the year before last, play Newcastle at home. We are assuming maximum points there for the Tigers and the other home playoff berth confirmed. Elsewhere, Sale travel to Exeter, hoping to clinch the third playoff spot. Exeter are the only team with nothing to play for who are also at home, but Sale have a couple of Lions – and George Ford, who is the best player in the British Isles at the moment. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Gloucester are playing for a place in the playoffs too, at home against Northampton, the current champions. They are the third highest try-scorers in this season of try-scoring, but they need someone above them to lose. We all know who that could be. The game of the weekend is down the M5 in Bristol. If two teams encapsulate this era of try-scoring, unpredictable wildness, it is Bristol and Harlequins. Bristol are the second highest try-scorers this season, with 87, a rate of 5.1 a match. They have also conceded more (76 – 4.4 a match) than anyone bar bottom-placed Newcastle. The greatest match this correspondent has ever covered was Bristol's playoff semi-final against Quins in 2021-22, the year Quins went on to win their second title. Bristol, who had finished top of the table, were 28-0 up after half an hour; Harlequins won 43-36 after extra time. Bristol have it all to play for at Ashton Gate on Saturday; Quins have nothing. Should be straightforward. But predictions with these two are for fools. There will be tries.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Revealed: Premiership teams playing the most English talent
All 10 Premiership clubs will reach the desired benchmark of England-qualified players (EQPs) this season with teams fielding plenty of home-grown talent. According to provisional data maintained by the Rugby Football Union, which has been seen by Telegraph Sport and is subject to checks, Champions Cup finalists Northampton Saints have averaged around 19 EQPs per game across the entire season. Newcastle Falcons are up at a similar level, with Sale Sharks and Bath just behind them. Sitting third with one round to go, Sale are on course for the play-offs. Bath have topped the Premiership table, securing a home semi-final to go with their Premiership Cup and Challenge Cup victories. Both of those clubs, as well as Saints, have explicitly leant on their academy production line, which is regarded as an increasingly important strategy in an era of streamlined squads and more sensible spending. Premiership regulations, as part of the recent professional game partnership (PGP), decree that teams must register an average of 15 EQPs over each 'qualification period'. The two qualification periods effectively split the season into two halves, with Premiership and Champions Cup or Challenge Cup fixtures counting towards the requisite mark. Premiership Cup squads are scrutinised, yet do not contribute officially. Clubs face fines of £250,000 should they average below 15 EQPs in any given qualification period. For the 2025-26 season, these fines will be supplemented by points deductions if that club have previously dipped below 15 EQPs in a qualification period. Two more developments of the new PGP have been an expanded England Under-20 elite player squad (EPS) as well as individual development plans (IDPs) for players of interest to the England set-up, which aim to help club and country collaborate more closely over development plans. Bath succeeding with English talent Johann van Graan, Bath's head of rugby, has not once across the entire season assembled a match-day 23 featuring fewer than 15 EQPs and has handed opportunities to several youngsters. Full-back Tom de Glanville, centre Will Butt, scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith and the versatile Ciaran Donoghue are among the Bath academy products to have enjoyed seminal years at senior level. Donoghue was on loan with Dings Crusaders in National Two, the fourth tier of the English pyramid, last season and shot to prominence after an injury to another local talent, Sam Harris. Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, last week suggested that Donoghue, a Salisbury-born 22-year-old, was in the frame for an international call-up in the coming weeks. Elsewhere among the Bath squad, Will Stuart has been picked for the British and Irish Lions, while Will Muir and Max Ojomoh will also push for involvement on England's forthcoming summer tour to Argentina and the United States. Guy Pepper has hit the ground running since joining from Newcastle Falcons and there are high hopes for Billy Sela and Kepu Tuipulotu, both of whom made senior debuts this season while still eligible for England Under-20. Finn Russell, Cameron Redpath, Thomas du Toit and Quinn Roux are among Bath's non-EQP contingent. However, Josh Bayliss, the Scotland back-rower, and Archie Griffin, the Wales tighthead prop, whose association with Bath began at the age of 13, represent two more non-EQPs that came through the club's academy. No club averaged below 15 in the first qualification period and all 10 should clear 15 for the second qualification period, too. This is partly due to a credits system, from which a club are credited if a player is injured on England duty, at a training camp or serving an official rest period following a Test window. For example, Leicester Tigers have received a credit for each match since the Six Nations on account of George Martin's absence. Bath have been granted the same because Ollie Lawrence ruptured his Achilles tendon during England's win over Italy. Northampton were granted seven additional EQPs for the visit to Harlequins in round 11, boosting their figure for the fixture beyond 23. This is because Alex Coles, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman, Curtis Langdon, Alex Mitchell, Henry Pollock and Ollie Sleightholme were at England's pre-Six Nations training camp in Girona. Leicester bottom of the pile Leicester Tigers are towards the bottom of the rankings and have fielded fewer than 15 EQPs on six occasions this season, though that has been boosted to 15 or beyond by credits for all but the loss to Bristol Bears in round eight of the Premiership. There were 14 EQPs in the Tigers squad for that match. In round 11 of the Premiership against Gloucester, Michael Cheika only had 11 EQPs in his match-day 23. That was boosted up to 15, however, because Freddie Steward, Joe Heyes, George Martin and Ollie Chessum were all involved in an England camp. Jack van Poortvliet had been named in the training squad by Borthwick, yet withdrew due to an injury sustained on club duty. There will be scope for Tigers to improve these figures next season given the nature of their turnover in personnel. Julián Montoya, the Argentina captain, is leaving for Pau, with Jamie Blamire of Newcastle Falcons, a senior England international, arriving in the East Midlands. Tarek Haffar, the loosehead prop who has represented England A, is another new recruit from Northampton Saints as James Cronin retires. Meanwhile, former England age-grade regulars such as scrum-half Ollie Allan and lock Lewis Chessum have been promoted from the senior academy. Bristol are the side to have most often recorded fewer than 15 EQPs without additional credits, doing so in three matches: the first two rounds of the Champions Cup, against Leinster and La Rochelle, and then in their 54-24 thrashing of Tigers in round eight of the Premiership. Bristol fielded 14 EQPs in each game, which Gloucester have also done twice. An EQP is defined in Premiership regulations as a player 'confirmed by the RFU to be eligible to be selected and play for England in accordance with World Rugby Regulation 8 as further particularised in EQP protocol'.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Sam Underhill ruled OUT of Bath's Gallagher Premiership title bid due to four-week ban for dangerous tackling
Bath's bid to claim the Gallagher Premiership title and complete an historic treble has been hit after key man Sam Underhill was ruled out of the end-of-season play-offs by a ban. Johann van Graan's side are favourites for domestic glory having already won the Premiership Rugby Cup and the European Challenge Cup. The second of those successes came against Lyon in Cardiff last Friday in a game in which England flanker Underhill was yellow carded for dangerous tackling. Referee Hollie Davidson somehow failed to send Underhill from the field despite him recklessly colliding head-on-head with Lyon's Georgian back Davit Niniashvili. Instead, Davidson sent Underhill to the sin bin for 10 minutes. But after the Principality Stadium clash, Underhill was cited and an independent disciplinary panel on Wednesday confirmed a four-week suspension. It means the tough-tackling back-row won't play again this season, missing his team's home Premiership semi-final a week on Friday. Underhill would also be unavailable to play in the league's final, if Bath make it that far. It is undoubtedly a big blow to Bath's hopes. Underhill is a certain starter for head of rugby Van Graan if fit and could also miss the start of England's summer tour of the Americas. As runaway league leaders, Bath have already secured a home semi-final with one round of the regular Premiership season still to come on Saturday. Van Graan's side were beaten in last year's final at Twickenham by Northampton Saints, but are in a good position to go one further in this campaign even without Underhill. Guy Pepper is the most likely player to step in for Bath at No 7.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Ross Molony: ‘Moving to Bath has done wonders for my career'
If Ross Molony had any doubts or even a hint of second thoughts about his move from Leinster , they were certainly dispelled when Bath won the Challenge Cup in the Principality Stadium last Friday night. It may have been a relative consolation prize after Bath were dumped out of the Champions Cup, but the moral of Molony's story is that it's better to have won one medal than none at all. Molony used two words to describe the experience. 'Class' and 'unbelievable'. Speaking to The Irish Times after Bath's win over Lyon, which was like a home match for the English club thanks to its proximity Cardiff, Molony described the extent to which he feels privileged to be a part of the Bath story. 'It's a special group, first and foremost. I've come into something that they've been building for two years and 11 months now, and to be a part of it, and to see what it means to those lads, I guess to enjoy it as much as I did out there was class. 'Then from a personal point of view, as we know, I've been involved in a lot of these weekends over the years that haven't gone well and that was pretty sweet.' READ MORE Molony may only have played the last 10 minutes of Bath's 37-12 win over Lyon but that was his 24th appearance of the season, eight of which have been in Europe, including four of his dozen starts. 'I've played a lot of rugby this season and whatever way they want to go about the impacts and how the bench come on I'm not complaining. When the final whistle went, I've had game time in the final. I'm delighted to be here and to be on the winning side of it.' Bath are a club transformed since the arrival of Johann van Graan from Munster in 2022 and Finn Russell a year later. Marooned at the bottom of the Premiership in 2021-22, a season in which they suffered a record 64-0 defeat in their local derby against Gloucester, part of the reason they were later described as 'broken as a club' by van Graan. They finished eighth the following season, and in the next one they rose to second before suffering a painful 25-21 loss to Northampton in the final at Twickenham. In March they ended a 17-year trophy drought by winning the Premiership Cup and have now added the Challenge Cup, the second leg of a targeted treble. Ross Molony wins a lineout against for Bath against Lyon on in the Challenge Cup final. Photograph: Gaspafotos/The tens of thousands who made the one hour or so trip across the Severn Bridge provided proof that the dominant force of English rugby in the 1990s is buzzing again. 'It was cool. I was walking around Cardiff today and there was a special buzz. My parents [Una and Kevin] were here as well so it was great to have them over. It did feel like a home game to be honest.' The emergence of Russell to a customary phalanx of cameras and microphones had proved a welcome distraction in the mixed zone of the Principality Stadium before Molony started talking, with the Scot serenaded by three other Bath team-mates with chants of: 'We love Finn, we do. We love you Finn, we do.' Bath sit 15 points clear atop the Premiership and both Molony and Russell believe this Challenge Cup triumph can be an important 'stepping stone' toward a first Premiership title since 1996, when they claimed a sixth in eight seasons. 'We will enjoy this but then there's three massive games, against Sarries next week and then into a home semi-final. We can only be as good as our next game so it's important we turn the page on Tuesday after a couple of beers this weekend,' said Molony. Asked to compare Bath and Leinster, Molony said: 'They are two extremely competitive sides in terms of training and quality of coaches and players.' At 31, the switch has evidently re-energised him too. 'It's done wonders for my career. It's motivated me moving into a new environment, new coaching staff, new playing group, new competitions, so it's brilliant for me and I've loved every minute of it.' Ross Molony says he is enjoying life at Bath. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Molony was a shrewd piece of business by van Graan. When starting, or as in the last 10 minutes against Lyon, Molony has been entrusted with calling the lineouts and he speaks highly of forwards coach Richard Blaze and fellow lock Charlie Ewels. The former Leinster lock still has two more seasons on his contract and says he would be happy to see out his career in Bath. 'I love it in Bath. The city is great and it really feels like the start of something special.' He says working with van Graan is 'brilliant', adding: 'He's brought in the right people around him, he's an incredible man manager, I think he facilitates the group incredibly well. He gets the best out of people and delivers his message incredibly well. He's someone you want to play for and you need that at the top of an organisation. It filters down through the quality of coaches and players that we have.' Not only is it nice to win medals and be part of a buoyant, upwardly mobile club, but there are worse places in the world to live than Bath. Molony has been inundated with visits from his parents, friends and former team-mates. 'I'm in a two-bed house and it's rare that the spare room is empty for home games. The Rec is a special place to play. It helps that we're doing well, people want to come and watch us. I've landed on my feet with a great group.'
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
‘Kill joy Lefties' in Bath Rugby stadium row over oak tree
'Fanatical' Green councillors are embroiled in a row with Bath Rugby Club over its plans to build a new stadium. Two years ago, Bath Rugby club announced plans for a new 18,000-seater Rugby stadium at the Recreation Ground in Bath city centre. But Joanna Wright and Saskia Heijltjes have accused the Premiership club of endangering a '200 year plus copper beech tree', which sits just metres away from the proposed structure. 'They are literally building this stadium within three metres of the tree,' Ms Wright, a Green Party councillor for Lambridge Ward, told The Telegraph. 'It's a 200 year plus copper beech tree which is a heritage veteran tree. These trees are important in our landscape, one of the reasons Bath is part of the UNESCO heritage site is because of its green setting.' She objected to the plans because she believed putting in foundations of the stadium would involve digging on the root system of the tree, which could then damage the tree in the process. Sir Jacob Rees Mogg, who lives a 30-minute drive from the proposed stadium, supported the rugby club and told the Telegraph that it was a case of 'fanatical greens' and 'typical kill joy Lefties'. He said: 'As the Club is promising to protect the tree, it sounds as if the fanatical greens are trying to stop the development. Typical kill joy lefties.' Bath Rugby club has disputed Ms Wright's claims and said the design proposals would protect the tree. The club also said that it has to spend around £1 million every year assembling and disassembling temporary stands. Tarquin McDonald, the chief executive, told the BBC: 'If we were not able to redevelop [the stadium], it calls into question our ability to stay here long term. That would be tragic for the city and the club.' Ms Wright hit back at Sir Jacob's comments, describing his statement as 'utter tosh'. She said: 'Just because you want to protect nature doesn't make you a crazy fanatic. 'I have nothing against rugby, but I also want to protect trees. Veteran trees should be supported in our urban landscape. They are as important culturally as rugby is - it's about coming to a compromise to deliver that... They are essentially going to build within the zone of the root system of the tree. 'It has a 21 metre root protection area, which would be dramatically reduced to 3 metres under the current plans. 'They are building the edge of the stadium within metres of this tree. Therefore they are putting in groundworks. If you think about foundations of any building, they are going to have to dig a long way down for that. 'I can't see how it's possible to preserve the tree and build the foundations.' Residents of Bath have also been objecting to the proposals on the planning application which was submitted. One objector, Susan Macdonald said: 'The bulk of the application is not about playing rugby. This is about building a hospitality complex. 'We the residents will have endure this even more massive stadium design, destroying the listed buildings landscape and seriously risking our UNESCO world heritage status'.
