Blue Black And White Column: Finally, A Championship For Bath

Maybe for someone like myself, an American, hasn't had to deal with the amount of pain and suffering quite like the supporters group for this club has endured. But, after defeating Leicester for the title, it felt like: "Finally!" I've been following Bath for the better part of a decade and it just felt like nothing more, but underachievement in that time period. It always seemed like there was great recruitment and the talent was clearly there, but the results just were not showing. After 29 years, Bath finally has their title (and a treble too).

When Johann van Graan took over, when the club was at it's lowest point, it felt like this was the right direction. A clear and obvious rebuild was needed. Stuart Hooper was obviously not the right guy to lead the team to title. While his recruitment was solid, he clearly was not getting the best out of them as they should have been contending for the playoffs with the squad they had. However, one thing Hooper did was laying the groundwork for van Graan to build upon. Hooper had recruited players such as Ben Spencer, Ruaridh McConnochie, Will Muir, and Cameron Redpath as they all played some significant role in this title run, but who knows if this title/treble would've been achieved had it not been for some recruitments that Hooper brought in.

With that being said, van Graan has identified the talent he needed for Bath especially in the tactics that were designed to win matches. Finn Russell is a prime example of this, but with him being a magician with the ball and precise kicking, Russell was an expensive recruitment. Then there were the players such as Thomas du Toit, Ollie Lawrence, Quinn Roux, Guy Pepper, and Francois van Wyk as whom are game changers and know how to grind it out. They complemented the other players who were already with the club like Sam Underhill, Joe Cokanasiga, Will Stuart, Tom Dunn, Beno Obano, and Charlie Ewels. He also started incorporating youngsters like Max Ojomoh, Archie Griffin, and Ciaran Donoghue. What van Graan created was not only a legitimate powerhouse that could become a dynasty, but an incredibly deep one too.

Sure, Bath did reap benefits of signing players who were cast offs from clubs who went into administration, but so did other teams. Simply, it was van Graan creating this culture and constructing a squad that wasn't only strong, but deep. He knew that the city and the supporters group were starved of trophies and van Graan certainly ended all that.

While this offseason was an incredible party for Bath fans, the team is about to go back to work and earn more silverware. That being said, to all of you Bath supporters: enjoy every moment of this as finally we all collectively can finally feel what it's like to be a champion once again or for the first time. Who knows, maybe this is just the beginning of a golden era in Bath Rugby history and we all will be spoiled by this.