Oh what this season could have been. So much potential and yet so little to show. Bath had an incredibly deep and talented squad, but all they finished with was another mid-table finish. However, what makes things even more frustrating is that they fell one point short of finishing in the top four and a playoff spot. Don't get me wrong, the Northampton Saints very much deserved to be in that position, but they had some luck on their side to finish where they did.
However, if you look back on some key moments, the ending to the season is even more frustrating than you think. Back in February/March, Bath dropped three of five games that came down to the wire. Heck, even if they won one of those three matches, they'd be in the playoffs. However, they dropped 12 potential points in those three matches. So the team potentially could have had the same amount of points as Gloucester who finished in third in the table, but more than likely would have been in the playoffs as the four seed.
That being said, there were some factors that Bath could not have prevented that lead to some of those losses. Injuries were a huge factor as a lot of key players were not able to contribute in those matches that lead to where they finished at the end of the season. Key players like Francois Louw was an injury concern for a good portion of the season. Sam Underhill was another key player the team missed because he was recovering from ankle surgery. Some other pieces that were missing were Luke Charteris, Tom Ellis, James Wilson, Josh Bayliss, and Anthony Watson. And lastly, there are other key players who were out due to injuries in Aled Brew, Taulupe Faletau, Matt Garvey, and Darren Atkins and those players are arguably game changers. Then there was the issue of players called up to international duty during the Six Nation as some key players like Joe Cokanasiga and Charlie Ewels had to suit up. With these factors, it made it hard for Bath to field the best possible team against the best sides in the Premiership and to be in the best position to win.
However, there were ways that those losses could have been prevented too and it all came down to player selection. Todd Blackadder had made some questionable lineup decisions. One of the biggest player selection blunders was Freddie Burns, who usually plays at flyhalf, as he was selected to be the fullback in one match and he absolutely struggled. His defense was subpar at best, even though there were better options to put on the 15 shirt like Tom Homer, but Blackadder seemingly missed on his selection there.
And then there was the mental side of matches because there were a lot of the mistakes made and they were totally mental mistakes. An example would be in their March 2 match against the Harlequins, scrumhalf Kahn Fotuali’i won a penalty, which was immediately kicked out of bounds by flyhalf Rhys Priestland for a lineout, which was needed to be won in order to secure the victory, however, hooker Ross Batty's throw was lost to the Harlequins (unsure if it was stolen or botched) which led to the loss as the Harlequins scored on the last play of the game. Had Batty made a more secure throw, then Bath would have likely won. Also the defense was not set properly on the very last play of the match as they were not spread out enough to hold on. If the team is consistently making the same mistakes in crucial situations then it's clearly a mental problem. It's those type of things that should have been avoided.
However, with how deep the team is and all the talent on the roster, there is a lot to be excited about here. This was a squad that was good enough to be playing in the playoffs this season and could possibly build upon that. That makes it even more exciting to think of what the club could do in 2019/20. It will be interesting to see who Bath brings in for next season and what they can do. Blackadder is out now, but with Stuart Hooper becoming the new Director of Rugby we will see what direction he decides to take this club and hopefully headed in the right direction.
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