For several reasons, this has been a Premiership season like no other. Only 10 clubs competing, an extended intermediate break and only 11 points separate the top seven teams before the last weekend of the regular League campaign. Tight at the top with a lot of thrills on the pitch is a collective win-win for players, Fans, TV executives and sponsors.
If the enema follows a similar pattern and the feel-good mood persists, there will be even superior news for the English game. There is only one possible catch. As the stakes increase, Ambition can be slightly reduced and conservatism adopted, lest a mistake undermines the whole great conception of a coach. The most tempting equation in sports – peril vs reward – is suddenly getting bigger.
That’s why it’s been so interesting to talk to Bath Rugby boss Johann van Graan this week. A proud South African who grew up on the Holy Trinity of standard strength, hard work and matter-of-fact bodily, he does not seek romantic whims. More and more, however, the former Springbok forwards coach is sounding like a television evangelist who has sprung up. “You won’t see us getting into our shells. We are going to enjoy it and play the way we play. If you had to write last weekend’s script, who knows what’s written? I think that’s the beauty of sport and Rugby.”
The one who dares wins, in other words. Turn on the sapphire, black and white touch paper and see what happens, unlike the monochrome game plan that Bath used for much of last Season. It clearly helps to have a top-notch fly-half like Finn Russell running the creative baton behind a revived pack, but the club’s assistant coach Lee Blackett says it’s a collective trend. “I think the Premier League has changed. It’s much less a peril aversion. Few Premier League teams play the percentages.”
Blackett, the Director of Rugby at Wasps before the club’s financial collapse, is also convinced that the rushing actioning dogs will go ahead, regardless of the growing tension at the end of the season. He has cracked the technical statistics and the key indicators are no longer a constant success or a predictable kick. Instead, a group of side dishes – Northampton, Harlequins, Exeter, Bristol and the defending champions Saracens – parade with the same high pace, a proactive air, happy to play it faster and a little looser, because they feel that points mean prizes. Sales conversion rates and error-free Rugby are increasingly the name of the game.
It has gained popularity, partly because the best teams have the players who make it possible and partly because even the most loyal Rugby supporters have grown tired of watching table tennis from the air. The comparative statistics are complicated by the reduced number of games this season and the recent resounding defeats for Gloucester and Newcastle, but the league averages 3.8 tries per game, compared to 3.4 tries last season.
Think of it less as stupidity than as an overdue enlightenment age. Van Graan and Blackett also believe that Bath continue to improve as long as they continue to focus on the positive. “We have been through a lot in the last 21 months and at some point you have to take advantage of it as well,” says Van Graan. “It means accepting the place where we are because the reward is great. You don’t get anything in life for free. It takes something in the middle of happiness, hard work and grace. At the end of the day, we decide what we do and we like those kind of moments.”
Which raises the question: could there be another big twist in this story? In particular, can anyone other than Saracens and Northampton, whom many believe will reach the Final at Twickenham on June 8, make a decisive breakthrough? A surprise win for Sale Sharks at Saracens on Saturday, for example, could change everything. And could Bath, who need at least a point at home to Northampton to clinch a playoff spot, still be a party animal? The Saints made 13 changes to the side that smack Gloucester 90-0, leaving Courtney Lawes and Fin Smith rested, but it remains a solid XV.Lewis Ludlam returns to the back row after health issue, while Ollie Sleightholme, the league’s top scorer, is also retained.