How Van Graan rebuilt 'broken' Bath
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Bath coach Johann van Graan has taken a club that hit rock bottom two seasons ago to the top of the English Premiership log.
In June 2022, Van Graan inherited a side that had finished last in the 13-team Premiership with 18 defeats from 24 matches, including a 71-17 defeat to Saracens. The six-time league champions would have dropped down to the second-tier Championship had relegation not been abolished.
Last season, Bath finished second on the Premiership log, behind Northampton on points difference, and went on to lose 25-21 to Saints in the Twickenham final.
After 10 rounds of the 2024-25 campaign, Bath are top of the Premiership log with eight wins, including a 68-10 thrashing of Saracens at the Rec.
On Sunday, they suffered just their second defeat in the tournament after being pipped 35-34 by Northampton, having fought back from 19-0 down to lead with four minutes to go.
But Bath picked up two bonus points from that Franklin’s Gardens thriller and remain on track to win the Premiership for the first time since the 1995-96 season.
In a Daily Mail article charting Bath’s revival under Van Graan, rugby writer Chris Foy highlights the role recruitment played, with Scotland flyhalf Finn Russell, Bok prop Thomas du Toit and quality English players picked up from Premiership clubs that went bankrupt all helping to bolster the club’s roster.
Van Graan also crucially brought in attack guru and former Wasps head coach Lee Blackett to change Bath’s high-risk, low-reward game.
"The year before I came – and before Finn came – the club were in a massive rebuilding process," Blackett told the Daily Mail. "The year before Johann got here, they were literally playing from everywhere. I remember coaching against Bath and it was very much, 'Kick it long and allow Bath to kill themselves'.
"Johann quickly changed that. He put a massive emphasis on defence and building a set-piece base. It went from one extreme where Bath would always play off their own line to the other extreme where they kicked a lot and played a lot of territory. It needed players and coaches to come in and move the club on, and that's what Johann and I spoke about; more of a focus on the attack."
Club stalwart Tom Dunn told the Daily Mail that Van Graan had made the players truly believe in themselves again.
“Belief is probably the biggest thing that's different between now and then. We still had belief in what we were doing back then, but of course in the back of your head is the thought, ‘We've just lost to that side by 60’. It's an easy thing to say, but a tough thing to act on. It is so much easier when you are winning!”
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And it was that success that secured the signature of Du Toit, who has made 34 appearances for the club since arriving ahead of the 2023-24 season.
"I want to be in a team which wins," he told the Daily Mail, adding: "Obviously, Bath is an unbelievably beautiful city and that definitely makes a difference. We visited Bath once or twice before making the decision and we are loving it now.
"It helps that there are a few South Africans here, but I wanted to throw myself into the culture and I am enjoying it so much. All the Brits here are fantastic people. One of my best friends is Tom Dunn. We have Sunday roasts every now and then, and we braai together. He does love biltong too, which is good, because I make my own biltong and he enjoys it.
"Our kids play together. I got him to buy a quad bike for his son, so his son and my son drive quad bikes around Farleigh every now and then. We make fires together, we go fishing together, it's a lot of fun. That is testament to the fact that, as a family, we're really happy in this place."
Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
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