Latest news with #BrianAshton
The Guardian
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
An ugly pack and backs worth paying to watch: Bath have taken us back to the 1990s
The first thing anyone who cares says when they find out you're a sports journalist is to ask whether or not you were at whichever big game was on that weekend. The second, after you've explained, apologetically, that you don't actually follow football, is usually an awkward pause. There are all sorts of reasons why you may prefer any other sort of sport, but after 20 years of variations on this conversation, I've learned that unless you want to come across like someone who insists actually they prefer art-house cinema and free jazz, it's best to have a straightforward explanation. Mine is that I grew up in Bath. They do play football in Bath, out at Twerton Park. The club have never been in the Football League (right now they're in National League South), and most weeks they draw a crowd of around a thousand. Which isn't so very many more than you'll find crowded around the stone balustrades of the city's parade gardens, trying to peer across the weir and see into the Rec when the rugby club have a home game. Bath's football has always been bad. But in the 80s and 90s Bath's rugby was so good that the brand still stands for something, even after they have been mediocre for a large part of the past 30 years. It was Jack Rowell's team and, after Rowell took the England job, Brian Ashton's. It was the team of Gareth Chilcott, Victor Ubogu and Graham Dawe, of Andy Robinson, Nigel Redman, John Hall and Martin Haag, of Stuart Barnes, Tony Swift, David Trick, Mike Catt, Jon Callard, Richard Hill, Simon Halliday, Phil de Glanville and Jeremy Guscott, and too many more to name them all. It was the team that won the league six times in eight years and the cup 10 times in 12, and the team who beat Brive, by a point, in the European Cup final in 1998. Which, looking back on it now, was the club's high-water mark. The place where the wave broke. They were already losing their way. They had made a series of bizarrely extravagant signings, agreed to an embarrassing cross-code challenge against Wigan Warriors, in which they got battered 82-6 playing rugby league at Maine Road, and an excruciating six-part behind-the-scenes documentary on the BBC which began with Hall, who had now taken over as director of rugby, promising to 'build the most formidable club in Europe', the 'Manchester United and Liverpool of rugby' and ended, a few weeks later, with Hall being told he was being 'let go' by his old teammate Swift, who was now the club's chief executive. All of which is water under Pulteney Bridge. Bath's advantage in those years was that Rowell turned them into something like a professional team while everyone else was playing an amateur game. Once other clubs caught up, Bath slipped back into the middle of the league. They have grown-up fans who before this season have only ever known them as underachievers, with a solitary victory in the European Challenge Cup in 2008. You will run out of fingers before you finish listing all the coaches who have had a crack at getting them back where they belonged in the years since. Over time, you would hear whispers that players had started to see it as a comfy billet, a place where they would be well paid and have a nice life doing it, especially after the owner, Bruce Craig, built them a new training facility on the grounds of Farleigh House. Whatever else they used to say about Bath back in the day, it never was that they were soft. Johann van Graan has got a lot right since he became their latest director of rugby, not least his recent remarks on the BBC that he felt the club 'didn't understand who they were' when he joined them. The city around it is different too. Ken Loach (who is one of those 1,000 or so Bathonians who prefer Twerton Park) complains it has become too clean, too sharp, too geared towards the day trippers visiting the city for their weekend shopping. Bath, Loach says, has always been a city of two halves. It is surrounded by farming communities and former coalmining towns, and is rough enough in the bits the tourists don't go. At their best, the rugby team have always combined both of them. Craig's money has done a lot of the work, no doubt about it, it paid for Finn Russell, among others. Russell, as a marquee player, is exempt from their salary cap, but to be honest the club's economics still feel a bit of a mystery. Somehow they have found the money to bring in Santiago Carreras and Henry Arundell next season. But they have a lot of academy players coming up through the squad too, some nicked from elsewhere but a lot of them locals, from Beechen Cliff state school up top of one of the seven hills overlooking the city. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Pat Lam is right, the tickets are too expensive. And the Rec is still a ramshackle old place. The club have been arguing with obstinate locals about whether or not they can redevelop it for almost as long as anyone can remember, and will go on arguing about it well into the future. The latest complaint is that their plans could interfere with an old copper beech tree nearby. But the team are winning again; they have an ugly pack, backs worth paying to watch and a handful of local lads in the thick of it. This weekend their supporters will be making the trip to Twickenham for the big match against their old enemy, Leicester. Things change, but this, at least, finally feels like it is staying the same.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
How Brian Ashton led Bath to double in 1995-96 while teaching full-time
It doesn't take long to realise that one of England's greatest attacking minds is still as sharp as ever. Asked what is keeping him busy at the moment, Brian Ashton, now 78, shoots back: 'Staying alive.' There are many ways to emphasise how long it has been since Bath won the title but a two-word riposte from the man who led them to the league and cup double in 1995-96 does it better than most. It is well documented that the dawn of professionalism was not kind to Bath, how it both enabled their rivals to catch up and derailed the country's dominant side in the following years. As the former full-back Jon Callard has put it: 'Bath got lost in professionalism, sometimes players forgot the value of the shirt.' In the final throes of the amateur era, however, Bath were the trailblazers. Advertisement Related: The Breakdown | Are you not entertained? Thrilling club finales show tribal rugby at its best Their 1995-96 campaign is a remarkable thing written down – record points (575) and tries scored (68) in 18 matches – but listen to Ashton reflect on a season when they finished a point ahead of Leicester in the table, before edging past them at Twickenham a week later, and the legend comes to life. Perhaps the best place to start is at the end, the final day of the league season when Bath hosted Sale knowing that with victory they would get their hands back on the title they had won in four of the preceding five years. Romping to a 32-12 half‑time lead, Bath had one hand and four fingers on the trophy. Forty minutes later Sale were level at 38-38 thanks to a last-gasp try from Chris Yates, converted by Rob Liley. As a result, a Leicester win against Harlequins would ensure the Tigers retained the title but behind 19-21 and with a late penalty for victory, John Liley, Rob's brother, was off target. Bath had squeaked home. 'Well, the Liley brothers couldn't have it all their own way, could they?' says Ashton. 'It would have been an interesting conversation between them later on, though. Advertisement 'There was a feeling of relief but also of genuine excitement. I've read that we scored a ridiculous number of tries in the second half of the season. We felt like we had gone a pretty long way to fulfilling what we had set out to do. Because of the way we pursued that we probably had a couple of blips along the way that we might have avoided if we had been a bit more pragmatic but, when you look at the players who were playing, pragmatism doesn't sit easily alongside that back division. And neither should it.' Ashton waxes lyrical about the backs. Tony Swift was recently retired but joining Callard in the back three was Adedayo Adebayo, Jon Sleightholme and Audley Lumsden. Scotland's scrum-half Andy Nicol was enjoying his first season with the club after overcoming a knee injury and Mike Catt, the England full-back, was given the keys to No 10. 'Catty could play anywhere across the back line,' Ashton says but when describing his centres, Phil de Glanville, the captain, and Jeremy Guscott, he really starts to purr. 'From a personal point of view, it was nice to have a captain in Phil who was playing in midfield,' Ashton says. 'My mindset was that we might need someone with more of a panoramic vision of what was going on than some of the forwards might have. And Jerry could do things that other players couldn't do and make it look so easy.' The forwards packed a punch, too. A back row featuring Andy Robinson, Steve Ojomoh and Ben Clarke was formidable while Kevin Yates and Victor Ubogu, packing down either side of Graham Dawe, ensured Gareth Chilcott's retirement was dealt with seamlessly. In the second row Martin Haag and Nigel Redman were the piano-shifters while Ashton's beloved backs played such memorable tunes. Advertisement Even at the fag-end of amateurism, perhaps even because of it, the players were empowered. Ashton missed around 10 matches across the season because he was still teaching at King's Bruton school in Somerset. 'Still had to earn a living,' he says, adding: 'It fitted in perfectly with my player-led coaching purpose!' Ashton recalls the determination to implement a swashbuckling style that season as evolution rather than revolution, designed to suit the players at his disposal. And he knew he was on to a good thing after beginning pre-season with a 62-19 victory over Garryowen. It set the tone for a ferociously fast start to the league season. Away victories against Leicester, Wasps and Harlequins led the Bristol Evening Post to declare the title race was 'all but killed off' while, after a 50-point hiding at the Rec, Bristol's Kyran Bracken was effusive. 'They were just out of this world,' he said. 'Bath are playing the sort of rugby the All Blacks have been playing.' That the title race did ultimately go down the wire is testament to the tenacity of the Tigers, who exacted revenge on Bath for their home defeat by edging home at the Rec – and a defeat against West Country rivals Gloucester. Ashton acknowledges that his insistence on playing a certain way was no doubt to blame, but stands by his decision. The irony is that the victory with which Bath completed the double was one of the more forgettable performances of the season. It took a penalty try to clinch a 16-15 cup victory at Twickenham – a sell-out crowd will be hoping for more of a spectacle on Saturday – in an ill-tempered match in which Neil Back, in particular, lost his cool at full time. Advertisement 'Bath and Leicester were the two sides pushing to win trophies but bizarrely – and the final was like this – they weren't great games to watch, Ashton says. 'If you want a close scoreline of course they were but if you want to sit back and enjoy what I would call proper rugby, they weren't.' If Bath needed bringing back down to earth it came just a week or later when locking horns with Wigan in the Clash of the Codes. A game of league at Maine Road was followed by a match of union at Twickenham. It was a Wigan side boasting Martin Offiah, Jason Robinson, Shaun Edwards, Andy Farrell, Henry Paul and Va'aiga Tuigamala and they racked up a thumping 82-6 win in Manchester. 'I was a Wigan fan so I knew what was coming,' remembers Ashton, before revenge was exacted at Twickenham. Dynasties have risen and fallen since then. Some you can see coming a mile off – Saracens' emergence felt inevitable such was the quality littered among their class of 2008 but so too their dethroning when Owen Farrell et al all moved on. Ashton, however, does not feel like Bath's slide was obvious at the time. 'I look at a photo of the side who won the cup and there were some great players. It's probably been well chronicled that the changeover from amateur to professional was not handled by Bath as well as it was by some of the other teams. I left halfway through the season because I found it quite difficult, but there's a lot of water under the bridge now.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
How Brian Ashton led Bath to double in 1995-96 while teaching full-time
It doesn't take long to realise that one of England's greatest attacking minds is still as sharp as ever. Asked what is keeping him busy at the moment, Brian Ashton, now 78, shoots back: 'Staying alive.' There are many ways to emphasise how long it has been since Bath won the title but a two-word riposte from the man who led them to the league and cup double in 1995-96 does it better than most. It is well documented that the dawn of professionalism was not kind to Bath, how it both enabled their rivals to catch up and derailed the country's dominant side in the following years. As the former full-back Jon Callard has put it: 'Bath got lost in professionalism, sometimes players forgot the value of the shirt.' In the final throes of the amateur era, however, Bath were the trailblazers. Their 1995-96 campaign is a remarkable thing written down – record points (575) and tries scored (68) in 18 matches – but listen to Ashton reflect on a season when they finished a point ahead of Leicester in the table, before edging past them at Twickenham a week later, and the legend comes to life. Perhaps the best place to start is at the end, the final day of the league season when Bath hosted Sale knowing that with victory they would get their hands back on the title they had won in four of the preceding five years. Romping to a 32-12 half‑time lead, Bath had one hand and four fingers on the trophy. Forty minutes later Sale were level at 38-38 thanks to a last-gasp try from Chris Yates, converted by Rob Liley. As a result, a Leicester win against Harlequins would ensure the Tigers retained the title but behind 19-21 and with a late penalty for victory, John Liley, Rob's brother, was off target. Bath had squeaked home. 'Well, the Liley brothers couldn't have it all their own way, could they?' says Ashton. 'It would have been an interesting conversation between them later on, though. 'There was a feeling of relief but also of genuine excitement. I've read that we scored a ridiculous number of tries in the second half of the season. We felt like we had gone a pretty long way to fulfilling what we had set out to do. Because of the way we pursued that we probably had a couple of blips along the way that we might have avoided if we had been a bit more pragmatic but, when you look at the players who were playing, pragmatism doesn't sit easily alongside that back division. And neither should it.' Ashton waxes lyrical about the backs. Tony Swift was recently retired but joining Callard in the back three was Adedayo Adebayo, Jon Sleightholme and Audley Lumsden. Scotland's scrum-half Andy Nicol was enjoying his first season with the club after overcoming a knee injury and Mike Catt, the England full-back, was given the keys to No 10. 'Catty could play anywhere across the back line,' Ashton says but when describing his centres, Phil de Glanville, the captain, and Jeremy Guscott, he really starts to purr. 'From a personal point of view, it was nice to have a captain in Phil who was playing in midfield,' Ashton says. 'My mindset was that we might need someone with more of a panoramic vision of what was going on than some of the forwards might have. And Jerry could do things that other players couldn't do and make it look so easy.' The forwards packed a punch, too. A back row featuring Andy Robinson, Steve Ojomoh and Ben Clarke was formidable while Kevin Yates and Victor Ubogu, packing down either side of Graham Dawe, ensured Gareth Chilcott's retirement was dealt with seamlessly. In the second row Martin Haag and Nigel Redman were the piano-shifters while Ashton's beloved backs played such memorable tunes. Even at the fag-end of amateurism, perhaps even because of it, the players were empowered. Ashton missed around 10 matches across the season because he was still teaching at King's Bruton school in Somerset. 'Still had to earn a living,' he says, adding: 'It fitted in perfectly with my player-led coaching purpose!' Ashton recalls the determination to implement a swashbuckling style that season as evolution rather than revolution, designed to suit the players at his disposal. And he knew he was on to a good thing after beginning pre-season with a 62-19 victory over Garryowen. It set the tone for a ferociously fast start to the league season. Away victories against Leicester, Wasps and Harlequins led the Bristol Evening Post to declare the title race was 'all but killed off' while, after a 50-point hiding at the Rec, Bristol's Kyran Bracken was effusive. 'They were just out of this world,' he said. 'Bath are playing the sort of rugby the All Blacks have been playing.' Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion That the title race did ultimately go down the wire is testament to the tenacity of the Tigers, who exacted revenge on Bath for their home defeat by edging home at the Rec – and a defeat against West Country rivals Gloucester. Ashton acknowledges that his insistence on playing a certain way was no doubt to blame, but stands by his decision. The irony is that the victory with which Bath completed the double was one of the more forgettable performances of the season. It took a penalty try to clinch a 16-15 cup victory at Twickenham – a sell-out crowd will be hoping for more of a spectacle on Saturday – in an ill-tempered match in which Neil Back, in particular, lost his cool at full time. 'Bath and Leicester were the two sides pushing to win trophies but bizarrely – and the final was like this – they weren't great games to watch, Ashton says. 'If you want a close scoreline of course they were but if you want to sit back and enjoy what I would call proper rugby, they weren't.' If Bath needed bringing back down to earth it came just a week or later when locking horns with Wigan in the Clash of the Codes. A game of league at Maine Road was followed by a match of union at Twickenham. It was a Wigan side boasting Martin Offiah, Jason Robinson, Shaun Edwards, Andy Farrell, Henry Paul and Va'aiga Tuigamala and they racked up a thumping 82-6 win in Manchester. 'I was a Wigan fan so I knew what was coming,' remembers Ashton, before revenge was exacted at Twickenham. Dynasties have risen and fallen since then. Some you can see coming a mile off – Saracens' emergence felt inevitable such was the quality littered among their class of 2008 but so too their dethroning when Owen Farrell et al all moved on. Ashton, however, does not feel like Bath's slide was obvious at the time. 'I look at a photo of the side who won the cup and there were some great players. It's probably been well chronicled that the changeover from amateur to professional was not handled by Bath as well as it was by some of the other teams. I left halfway through the season because I found it quite difficult, but there's a lot of water under the bridge now.'
