"Butch should start at 10 for Boks" says Watson

Here's a bit I did for SARugby.com - Butch James is backed to be Springboks' starting fly-half for the World Cup by club-mate Luke Watson

The tale of Meehan and Sir Ian

Here, belatedly, is my column from The Bath Chronicle, published on February 17. I'm sticking it on my blog now because Bath's spanking of Northampton on Saturday only served to underscore some of the points. Cheers.

When it was confirmed over the summer that Sir Ian McGeechan would be coming to Bath Rugby, an obvious question was how he would fit in with the existing coaching staff.

Or, rather, how the existing coaching staff would fit around him.

McGeechan has accomplished so much in so many places that his appointment by new owner Bruce Craig got plenty of tongues wagging about how exactly he would work alongside head coach Steve Meehan, a man who had put his individual stamp on the club over the previous three seasons.

I think the club would probably admit there has been a certain 'suck it and see' aspect to the way McGeechan has worked alongside the existing coaching set-up and it's clear his role has evolved since he joined.
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When he arrived, his official title was performance director and, while both McGeechan and the club could furnish reasonable explanations of what that role entailed, in my mind at least there remained a few little question marks about the command structure and how exactly Meehan and McGeechan would dovetail.

At the end of November, that title was tweaked by chief executive Nick Blofeld to the more conventional one of director of rugby.

While the club made little of that change of title at the time, saying it was done merely for clarification, I think the more traditional split between director of rugby and head coach has helped McGeechan settle into the club – and the club settle into life with McGeechan.

There is now a clearer, more explicit chain of command off the pitch, and on it there is a greater sense of purpose. Since that change of title, McGeechan has rolled up his sleeves with the pack and, alongside forwards coach Martin Haag, has wrought something of a transformation.

Friday's away win at Sale underscored how the Bath pack is on top of its game again, although the real test will come when the grisly Northampton forwards rumble onto The Rec.

I've also detected a greater sense of assurance and quiet purpose emanating from both McGeechan and Meehan in recent weeks, as though they have a better handle on things and know precisely where they're going.

Results help lift the mood, of course, and Bath have won six out of their last seven games. Even so, I sense the greater sense of assurance stems from more than just results.

I suppose the lesson to learn is that, even the best in the business can take time to bed in.

And that can apply to players too. Bath back-rowers Luke Watson, Lewis Moody and Simon Taylor are superb players and have put in strong individual performances at times.

But, as Lee Mears pointed out this week, they are all in their first full season at the club and it takes time for players to build up an understanding of how their team-mates play.

Luckily for Bath, that understanding seems to be flourishing at just the right time for a tilt at the play-offs.

Demi-god, prodigal son or rock star? Butch gets a special reception in SA

Bath and Springbok fly-half Butch James flew back to South Africa this week for his wedding. But it turns out he had more than one pressing engagement, with the World Cup-winner also attending a glitzy press conference where it was announced he would be joining the Golden Lions in May. Here's my take on the razzmatazz...

Butch James certainly had one heck of a stag party.
Most of us would settle for a night out with the boys – Butch was
seemingly granted demi-god status by a grateful nation.
The South Africa fly-half flew back to his native country earlier this week in readiness for his wedding on Saturday. While out there, he became caught up in a publicity stunt that would make Phineas Barnum and Max Clifford blush.
It has been an open secret for some time that James will be heading back to South Africa at the end of this season for a final hurrah with the Johannesburg-based Golden Lions.
On Tuesday, the Lions ‘unveiled’ their new signing. This required James to fly into a Joburg airport on a private jet supplied by one of the Lions’ minted owners.
Stairs were duly rolled up to the doors and Butch descended to the Tarmac amid a chorus of sycophantic applause from men in blazers.
In front of him was a sea of paparazzi, all desperate to capture this happy day.
I do not know if there was a marching band present.
It was like a prodigal son returning from a self-imposed exile. Or a minor royal visiting some neglected corner of the empire. Or a rock star
returning for a ‘Welcome Home’ gig. Or a bit of all three.
Verily, the reception that greeted Pope Benedict on these shores in September had fewer bells and whistles.
But it made James look like a pawn in the Lions’ publicity machine.
Especially as he was wearing a Golden Lions shirt with the number 10 on the back. With the name ‘James’ above it.
James was promptly shunted in front of the microphones. He
explained how one day he’d tell his children about how great it had been to be involved with such a club.
Butch James is an incredible specimen, a man of such super-human patience and dedication that he has bounced back from five knee reconstructions and two bust shoulders.
Most men would have given up competitive sport completely in the face of such serious injuries and long lay-offs, let alone continue to play at the pinnacle of the game.
More than any other player, he has shaped the way Bath have played over the past four years. His ingenuity and flamboyance on the pitch have made him a joy to behold on The Rec.
But I think the Lions have got a bit ahead of themselves here – and James has been dragged along.
James remains a Bath player until the end of the season and it’s Bath who are paying his not inconsiderable wages at the moment.
Getting James to put on a Golden Lions shirt when he still has more than three months at Bath is a touch previous, in my book.
But at least the shenanigans in Johannesburg show what passion the South Africans have for their rugby – and for James.
And I suppose that in turn should make us grateful that we’ve had him plying his trade at The Rec for the past four years.

Bendy's on the straight and narrow

I've long championed the cause of Bath full-back Nick Abendanon. And in a week when the 24-year-old has been called up to the England Elite Player Squad, there is therefore the opportunity for this blog to let out a small cheer.
Sure, Abendanon only got the call after Delon Armitage (both pictured) threw a strop in front of a doping official and got himself banned.
But Abendanon has his foot in the door now - the first step in anyone establishing themselves in any walk of life. The question is, does Abendanon have it in him to get himself over the threshold and settle in at England’s 6 Nations base at Pennyhill Park in Surrey?
I believe he does. The South Africa-born flyer used to be known for two things: his elusive, weaving running, and his unfortunate capacity to make daft decisions at crucial moments.
Fortunately, the elusive running bit still applies. And while the odd decision can still creep into his game, Abendanon is a far more consistent specimen than he was two years, or even a year, ago.
His defensive play is also under-estimated. For a relatively small guy, he punches a couple of divisions above his weight.
There are two recent examples of that, both in the Heineken Cup. Away against Aironi, Abendanon decked the rotund Nick Williams with such technically superb savagery that the Number 8 was escorted off the pitch to receive medical treatment. On Saturday, in Biarritz, he felled the marvellously named centre Marcelo Bosch when only a perfectly executed tackle would do if a try was to be prevented.
But apart from his own form, there are two other reasons why Abendanon should prosper.
Going into the World Cup in September, England team manager Martin Johnson wants versatile players in his squad who can cover more than one position. It is to Abendanon’s significant advantage that he can play on the wing as effectively as he can at 15.
Over the summer, his exertions for the England Saxons in the Churchill Cup - when he appeared on the wing - won him the Player of the Tournament Award.
His ability to play anywhere in the back three is a big plus-point, just as it is in Matt Banahan’s favour that he can play at centre as well as on the wing.
The presence of Banahan and other Bath players in the EPS should also work in Abendanon’s favour.
With Banahan and Shontayne Hape next to him, it will be like playing in the Bath back line. Things augur well for Bendy.

Should English clubs think twice before recruiting abroad?

On Thursday I broke a story about Springbok Francois Louw being lined up by Bath Rugby to replace the departing Luke Watson.
The story, it seems, is gaining traction in South Africa. As I write, it's the lead on www.sarugby.com.
But, as somebody points out in the comments section on that website, aren't we capable of producing loose forwards of sufficient quality in England?
Bath are not short of young, up-and-coming back-rowers, with home-grown starlets Guy Mercer and Josh Ovens leading the charge. I can't help feeling that the club's insistence on travelling around the southern hemisphere in search of an 'international-calibre' star to replace Watson is a kick in the teeth for these young guys, who have been knocking on the door for a good while now.
Moreover, an all-international back row can be a dangerous thing in World Cup year. Should Bath sign Louw and should Simon Taylor get a recall from Scotland - as his form merits - then Bath's entire first-choice back row of Moody, Taylor, Louw could be away at the start of the 2011-12 season.
Then the home-grown lads really will have to stand up and be counted.

Picture: Francois Louw, front, and Luke Watson during their days playing together for Western Province and The Stormers. Credit: Steve Haag, Back Page Sport SA

When the human being eclipses the sportsman

Sports interviews, particularly in football or boxing, are all too often either choreographed hype or bland platitudes.

Personality is hijacked to make way for some PR message and that message often boils down to meaning the square root of sod all.

Earlier this week, however, I was fortunate enough to interview England's Shontayne Hape. By his own admission, the Bath centre has hit a sticky patch.

He has come in for plenty of stick of late and while he has been way off his best, some of the criticism has smacked, frankly, of the amnesiac.

What most impressed me about Hape, pictured, on Tuesday was his honesty. So often the sportsman can eclipse the human being. Occasionally, we need to be reminded that the human being bit comes first.

South African knight rides to the rescue at The Rec - again

Former Springbok scrum-half Michael Claassens has today signed a deal that will keep him at Bath Rugby until 2013. Here's my take on the signing. For an interview with Claassens and more of my thoughts, see The Bath Chronicle on Thursday, January 6.

A very good history of Bath during the rugby club’s heyday has recently been published. But when the final word comes to be written on Bath Rugby in the 21st century, it will be a modest South African who couldn’t speak English when he arrived in the city who should receive a chapter all of his own.
For the second time in his career, Michael Claassens rode to Bath Rugby’s rescue today and restored a sense of stability.
A lot of things feel like they are up in the air at The Rec at the moment.
Club skipper Luke Watson has announced he is heading back to South Africa at the end of the season, while World Cup-winner Butch James has also indicated he’d be keen to pack his bags swiftly enough should Bath release him from his contract. Couple that with the speculation that’s been doing the rounds about a new coaching team being lined up by owner Bruce Craig, and the storm clouds of uncertainty were beginning to look ominously heavy.
This morning, Claassens’ peroxide blond locks pierced those clouds when the club announced the scrum-half had signed a new two-year deal.
After four years at The Rec, Claassens could have left Bath at the end of this season owing the club and its supporters precisely nothing.
It was a bold enough move for the Kroonstad-born former Springbok to bring his non-English speaking wife over here four years ago. By upping sticks and leaving South Africa, the eight-cap international was effectively turning his back on further appearances in the gold and green, and taking a step into the unknown.
What Claassens has delivered for Bath since then is season after season of graft, spark and honesty.
A year-and-half ago, this softly spoken gent was handed a poisoned chalice when he was asked to captain the club following the summer’s drugs scandal.
In those circumstances, the captaincy was always going to be a thankless task - but Claassens stepped up and bore it all with an unceasing attitude of composure, politeness and unblinking stoicism. And by the end of the campaign, after a torrid beginning, Bath were playing the most attractive rugby of the Premiership.
With his best mate and half-back partner Butch James more than likely to be heading home at the end of the season, it would have been the easy option for Claassens to follow him back to South Africa,
That he isn’t, but is once again sticking by Bath during a tough period, should be a source of gratitude for every Bath supporter. If you’ve any festive port left over, then you should be preparing a toast.