Bath Rugby‘s Head of Rugby Johann van Graan has called for his side to show consistency in their final three games if they hope to make the play-offs.
The Blue, Black and White downed Exeter Chiefs 26-14 last time out, a win which van Graan described as their best of the season.
Speaking to the media ahead of his side’s clash with Saracens, van Graan said: “[We need to] be ourselves and be consistent. That’s been our focus point.”
He added: “We don’t get carried away when we win; and whenever we’ve lost this season we see it for what it is and then we move forward. We keep trying to get better each week, keep backing the way that we want to play.
With such an emotional high last weekend, it might be easy to get carried away; but van Graan insists his side know there’s more to come this season.
“I can’t emphasise this enough,” he said. “I put a lot of what we do the fact that we’re not thinking of that might be our final best game of the season; the best is yet to come. We play on Friday night at a sold-out Rec against Saracens, what more can you ask for!”
He continued: “After that we’ll take a week away then Newcastle and then Northampton and then if we were good enough across 18 rounds then we look forward to a semi-final. if not we’ve already improved so much from the previous year but for us being consistent trying to get better each week. I can’t ask more of the players at this stage.”
“It’s another big game”-Johann van Graan looks ahead to clash with Saracens
This weekend, Bath face third-place Saracens in a game that prove prove crucial for both side’s play-off hopes. A bonus-point win for Bath would give them a seven-point buffer over the defending champions and likely secure a play-off berth in some fashion, however a loss drags them right back into the dogfight for the top four.
Looking ahead to the game, van Graan was quick to : “I’ve got a good respect for them you know what they’ve achieved and they’ve got literally some of the best players in the world in their team and they’ve been at the top of their game for a very long time. We enjoy playing against them. It’s always like a test match.”
Whilst a fixture against the defending champions at this late stage in the season might be a test of Bath’s title credential’s, van Graan insisted it’s just “another big game”.
“I wouldn’t call it [a test of title credentials], it’s another big game. It’s second versus third in the table, makes it very interesting for a potential semi-final, but we haven’t mentioned that, we haven’t spoken about championships. It’s a big game for us but I wouldn’t go too far to say it’s championship credentials.”
A win this weekend would also complete a nice league double for Bath over the defending champions.