04-04-2025
Confident Cokanasiga is edging back into England contention
Matt Banahan knows just how valuable a big winger can be in rugby, so it is little wonder that he has enjoyed Joe Cokanasiga's resurgence at Bath.
Now 27, it is seven years since Cokanasiga first got capped by England two days after his 20th birthday but he has played only once under Steve Borthwick, in a World Cup warm-up match against Wales.
It's a big night for Gallagher Premiership leaders Bath on Friday out in Pau (live on Premier Sports 2 from 7.55pm) as they now look to add an EPCR Challenge Cup crown to the Premiership Rugby Cup title they have already won this season. And Cokanasiga looks back to his very best as they chase an incredible treble.
For long-time Bath winger Banahan, his performances are a reflection of just how strong his former club have been in recent weeks.
He said: 'Bath have found an unbelievable flow, they are blowing teams away at the moment.
'If you look at Bath with the way they get wingers into space, I've seen big Joe carrying more in the last two or three months than I've ever seen him carry. He's in space, he's finding opportunities to carry in one-on-ones and he's a big unit. He gets them over the gain line.
'Since just before Christmas, he is finding the form that everyone thought was going to come years ago before the injuries."
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Banahan, who is part of the Scotland women's coaching set-up, is a key member of the Premier Sports punditry team this weekend as international club rugby's knockout action returns. With 12 live EPCR games this weekend, it's wall-to-wall rugby on the UK broadcaster, and they have added further global competitions to their offering in the form of Japan's JLR1 and USA's Major League Rugby.
The two leagues will be shown as part of a new 24/7 rugby channel, Premier Sports Rugby, while the broadcaster will now host more than 400 live rugby games every season from competitions across 11 rugby nations.
But this weekend is all about international club rugby with the return of the EPCR Challenge Cup and Investec Champions Cup. Banahan will do the West Country double, also covering another of his former clubs, Gloucester, as they also travel to France to take on a Montpellier team featuring the likes of Billy Vunipola and Sam Simmonds.
With Tomos Williams going viral at the weekend with his stunning no-look try assist in the Cherry & Whites' big win over Bristol Bears, Banahan believes he has put himself right back into the conversation for British & Irish Lions selection.
And for Banahan, the decision over which scrum-halves join Leinster and Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park may be one of the hardest for Andy Farrell, with Northampton Saints' Alex Mitchell and Toulon's Scotland international Ben White also in fine form.
Banahan added: 'There is an interesting question at nine. Jamison Gibson-Park is there, but then Tomos Williams is finding a bit of form and you have Alex Mitchell for England.
"There's a question of squad balance, is he going to take four scrum-halves or three? If it's three, who misses out of the four scrum-halves? Does Ben White miss out because he's in France, even though he is playing for Scotland?
'Gibson-Park is a shoo-in, he's been the in-form nine for years and I don't think anyone will jump him.
"We don't know what the contracts are like with the French clubs, if the clubs will release them straightaway, but scrum-half and hooker are the big calls for me.'
