Sam Underhill injury update and Joe Cokanasiga is eager for Clermont clash with Alevereti Raka
Yesterday at 11:49 AM
Bath Rugby head coach Johann van Graan is optimistic that Sam Underhill will be fit for action, after the England back row sustained an ankle injury in last Sunday’s match against Northampton Saints. Underhill picked up the knock as he set up Max Ojomah’s second half try, yet he was able to finish the match at Franklin’s Gardens.
The question marks remain around whether Underhill will be rested this weekend, as Bath take on Clermont Auvergne in the third round of the Investec Champions Cup. With the 2025 Guinness Six Nations kicking off in under a month, England fans would be holding their breath to see whether their resident bruiser is given the green light to compete. Van Graan addressed Underhill’s issue in a recent Bath press conference;
"Sam Underhill also took a knock to that ankle of his so we are investigating further what that looks like. Sam picked up the knock to the ankle setting up the try for Max Ojomoh and played on but after the game it was quite sore and that is a bit of a worry for him.”
The Bath coach seems confident that Underhill is not nursing a severe ankle injury, and waxed lyrical about the England flanker’s impact in blue, black and white. Underhill’s influence upon the second half at the cinch Stadium was immense, with the ‘Under-taker’ putting countless bodies in the ground as Bath took a narrow lead. However, the educated feet of Northampton and England fly half Fin Smith slotted the decisive penalty, which secured a dramatic one-point win for the Saints.
Johaan van Graan was full of praise for Underhill, and how his side remain arguably the toughest team to beat in the Premiership. The Bath head coach gave his two cents on Underhill’s performances in blue, black and white, but declined to pass comments on whether the back row will be called up for England for the 2025 Six Nations. It is simply out of the South African’s hands, yet he hopes to see his player continuing on his hot run of form.
“So firstly, on his performance, he was back to his hitting best on the weekend game. Like some of those tackles, I’ve said this before about Sam, there’s two players that I’ve coached with incredible timing in terms of hitting. One was the Bone Collector, Willem Alberts, and the other is Sam Underhill.
“If you look at the two of them in terms of he’s got this ability to time his tackles to perfection. So yeah, he’s been in good form, and we’ve used him in a very specific way across the last league weekends, and he’s formed that role really, really well. In terms of the ankle. Like I said, Rory (Murray – Head of Medical, Bath Rugby) is doing a bit more investigating there.”
“On international selection, whatever Bath player plays in whichever team, that’s the national coaches decision. So I won’t comment on that. Every coach has got his own ideas, and I know what a tough job it is, doing it myself. So I won’t comment on selection. What I would say is Sam is a very important player to us, and Sam plays very well in big games and in big moments. And I’ll use the Premiership final as an example. There’s a few players that were outstanding that day.
“I think he’s right at the top of that list in terms of performance, in terms of how he influenced the game for his contact. And he’s got these subtle bits of his game in attack. I used the pass to Max (Ojomah) as an example. People speak about his defense and his breakdown work.
“He’s got lovely hands and lovely feet, and that’s a good example of it. He’s a bath player, so hopefully he can continue to play well. Whether he plays for his national team, hopefully he gets elected for that. But as I say, that’s outside of my control.”
England and Bath wing Joe Cokansiga also weighed in, on how he is happy that he never has to play against his revered teammate. “Every time he’s on, I’m glad I’m not playing against him! Secondly, I think just when he puts those hits and it gives the team a lot of confidence, always want to step up and do the same. It just gives the team a lot of confidence. When you’ve got people like Sam and you’ve got Miles Reid, guys like Ted Hill ecetera. The calibre of players we’ve got just fills the team with confidence.”
Bath are in the midst of quite the injury crisis, with an ever-growing list of names adding Underhill to the likes of fellow back rowers Guy Pepper and Jaco Coetzee and recently returned wing Will Muir. Beginning with the flyer known around the Rec as ‘Horse’, van Graan expressed how Muir is frustrated to be back on the injury side-lines so soon after recovering from a six-week knee injury.
“So, the medical team are are getting one or two more opinions. It won’t be a week or two. It will be a bit longer, similar to Will Muir and then Sam Underhill also took a knock to that ankle. So we are investigating further what what that looks like. And then Jaco Coetzee obviously failed that HIA after that unfortunate collision, which was a massive collision in the midfield, a rugby incident by two players. So yeah, we took a few knocks on on the weekends, which again, just shows how attritional that game was.”
One Bath man who remains fit and raring to go is infact Joe Cokanasiga with the England flyer is excited to bring the fight to Clermont, and bring the fight to his opposite man whom he’s long admired. Cokanasiga will go toe-to-toe with Alevereti Raka, and the England powerhouse is chomping at the bit for a physical battle with the former France international.
“Yeah, that’s someone I watched when I was growing up, a lot of Fijians, I watched growing up.” Cokanasiga said. “I think there’s one game I watched, where he beat Saracens by himself, it will be interesting to see, to test myself against him, it will be a challenge.”
Another man who will play no part in Bath’s upcoming fixture with Clermont, or any other Bath match for that matter, is the recently released wing Reagan Grace. The talented youngster has agreed a move to Cardiff, in order to further pursue a Test match career within Warren Gatland’s Wales squad. Grace earned a senior Wales call-up this past Summer, as he went on tour ‘down under’ for the series against Australia.
Whilst the former Rugby League wing did not make his debut, the future is certainly bright given his early involvement in the national touring squads. Van Graan certainly backs the speedster for an exciting rise in the red jersey, and wishes him all the best as he crosses the River Severn.
“I’m so proud of him, how he’s fought back and hopefully gets amazing opportunities and hopefully plays test rugby for Wales. So he’s got our blessing, and similar to last season, wherever we we end up as a team at the back end of the season, he’ll be there.
“Similar to Chris Cloete last season. And there’s (Piers) Francis and Fergus Lee-Warner, guys that left a bit earlier. They were all part of the journey. And as I say, the club, we see it as a train journey. Guys will get on and guys will get off. And you know, we made a decision both of us, that’s it the right time for you to go to Cardiff. And we’ve got some good rugby friends in Cardiff, and we wish them well for the weekend.”
Bath’s ranks in the wide channels have thinned out in the past week, given the injury to Muir and the departure of Grace. Last weekend, van Graan unleashed a Springboks-esque 7-1 split on the bench, with scrum half Louis Schreuder the only back-line option for the South African coach. Van Graan made the unique decision to unleash regular back row Josh Bayliss on the wing, after Will Muir departed with an injury.
“Unfortunately, Guy (Pepper) got injured within the first few minutes of the game, and he played six, which is a very specific roles for our forward players. So that’s why we brought on Josh Bayliss. But then Horse (Will Muir) got injured, and it was always going to be our plan for the weekend to go with Josh Bayliss on the wing. As I said before the game, whichever player I put in whatever position we are well prepped for it.”
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