By Ed Scott
September 4 2013

On Friday night Bath kick off the new Premiership season with a visit to newly promoted Newcastle. With only one Premiership away win in 12 months, and the canny Dean Richards at the helm for the Falcons, Bath will be under no illusions as to the challenge they will face as they start their campaign.

The imminent birth of my second child will prevent trips to The Rec over the next few weeks, so I am also interested to see how BT Sport deal with their monopoly of Premiership rugby. It’s their chance to show us what they are going to do with their ‘new look’ coverage, and what better way to kick it off than a trip to Kingston Park to watch the Blue, Black and White take on Newcastle.

During the summer, COML becomes a quieter place, with the major discussion points being team selection (much to ballsout’s displeasure!) and the quality of our player recruitment. This was also spiced up with Gavin Henson giving the doubters a valid reason to throw their hands up in the air in disgust, although I think it’s a little early for anyone to be able to say “I told you so” no matter what view you have about the man.

Pre-season traditionally tells us very little, but what we can see is that the quality and size of our squad seems far better equipped for a successful season than it ever has been. In the pack we are almost embarrassingly rich in the second and back rows. There are three scrums halves, all likely to make a claim for the starting shirt and it’s well documented that the fly half cupboard is fully stocked. In general there is genuine competition across the backline and some weeks very talented guys will not make the starting squad.

With Mike Ford promoted to Head Coach, Bath are apparently looking to play an expansive game moving forward. We certainly saw glimpses of a more open style towards the latter part of the 2012/13 season, but a Friday night in the North of England may not be best suited for the champagne rugby that many of us would love to see.

Dean Richards has put together a grizzled pack who will seek to bully, spoil and defend with aggression. I expect them to slow the game down and make it very difficult for Bath to get quick ball. He will know that we have a young guy at full back (either Devoto or Watson) and will make sure they are put under pressure early. I would imagine a territorial and physical approach to this one.

Newcastle have made some canny signings, Mike Blair will really make them tick from scrum half, and the likes of Andy Saull and Ally Hogg will ensure that they are extremely competitive at the breakdown. Although he has been plying his trade with London Scottish for the last year, don’t also underestimate Phil Godman at fly half. With 23 Scotland caps and 150 performances for Edinburgh, the guy can play and his existing relationship with Blair (at Edinburgh together for 8 years) could be key to Newcastle’s survival this season.

Bath need to be careful about being sucked into a heavyweight brawl and must provide the backs with quick ball. The game against the Ospreys shows that we have power up front, but the execution took a while to come. The loss to the Dragons was another lesson on what happens if you play some good rugby but give away too many penalties.

For want of plagiarising one of Stuart’s posts, I believe the starting team will be as follows:

1.James 2. Webber 3. Wilson 4. Attwood 5. Hooper 6. Garvey 7. Gilbert 8. Houston 9. Stringer 10. Ford 11. Banahan 12. Eastmond 13. Joseph 14. Rokoduguni 15. Devoto.

Replacements: 16. Batty 17. Catt 18. Perenise 19. Mercer 20. Fa’soiliva 21. Roberts 22. Heathcote 23. Watson

The bench is a tricky one, my choice is tough on Biggs who might still get the nod over Heathcote, as Devoto and Eastmond can cover 10. With Garvey on the flank and able to play second row, I’ve gone for the impact of Fa’soiliva from the bench. Mercer stands a chance of a start over the impressive Mat Gilbert, if only to be a foil to Andy Saull, and I think Stringer’s experience in the team last season will just about give him the nod over Roberts.

I’ve never much been a fan of Friday night games (although I do love attending them), mainly because I always think that they don’t suit Bath. I’ve come to realise however that to become a great team we need to find a way to win in all circumstances, times and conditions. We simply need to adapt and play what’s in front of us.

I’d love to see a load of tries run in (by Bath!) but quite frankly, let’s start off with a simple win and take the rest from there.

Let the Games Begin

Discussion started by Comeonmylovers.co.uk (IP Logged), 04/09/2013 19:02

Comeonmylovers.co.uk
04/09/2013 19:02

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:09:12:12:17:49 by TCM2007.

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Widcombe boy
05/09/2013 08:45

Nice little preview Ed, just can't wait!!

Henson may have a place on the bench

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Rawce
05/09/2013 09:02

Good point at the end about getting wins at every opportunity. Critical for this season.

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Susanne
05/09/2013 14:25

Great piece Ed and nice to see these back for now (hope the imminent new arrival will still leave you time to resume these at some point!).

Really looking forward to this, although I'm a bit concerned about the weather forecast - Kingston Park could be in a howling gale by tomorrow night (to say nothing of the drive up which looks like being a bit damp).

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