Bath locate the keys once more

Back in July, before he had got his feet under his desk at Bath Rugby's offices in Argyle Street, Bath's chief executive-to-be, Nick Blofeld, pictured, explained to me what he liked about head coach Steve Meehan's strategy.

"The biggest compliment I can pay Steve is to express my admiration at Bath's ability to unlock defences," he said. "It's incomparable – and that's the most important part of rugby."

During the opening half of this season, Blofeld must at times have wondered whether the keys which Bath used to open up Premiership sides had been misplaced for good.

With a backline that struggled to get on the front foot it often seemed that breaching the gainline, let alone the tryline, was an unlikely outcome when Bath kept the ball in hand.

There was the odd cause for optimism, of course. Nick Abendanon continued to conjure up the odd break from deep, while Matt Banahan's first-half performance against Stade Francais proved the Bath backs could still penetrate when the game was played at the right tempo.

Overwhelmingly, however, Bath's attacking play up to Christmas was a poor shadow of what it had been a year earlier – more blunt kitchen knife than whetted scythe.

But Blofeld stood full square behind Meehan, extending the Australian's contract and giving him unstinting backing during those dark days of a winless October.

Now there are hints that such unqualified support is yielding an early spring for Bath. With three wins on the bounce in the Premiership and a total of 75 points put over the opposition in the past fortnight, there's a sense that Bath aren't far from knocking the floodgates down.

In recent weeks there has been a pace, a variety and a composure to their play that had previously been absent this season.

Inevitably, many – including team-mates – have credited the return of Butch James as being the key to all this. And it's surely no coincidence that Bath's form has gone up two gears since the South African's return from injury.

James is walking proof that the much overused adjective beloved of sports journalists – 'talismanic' – can have a fit and proper application.

And what's encouraging for Bath is that another man who can lay claim to the T word, Olly Barkley, is on the verge of a return to action, too.

Both James and Barkley are enthusiastic exponents of that expansive style of play that has become Bath's trademark – and from which the side, even in its darkest hour, has never deviated.

So Blofeld's faith in Meehan and Meehan's faith in the brand of running rugby that he has developed during his tenure at the club seems to be reaping dividends.

A couple of wins on the trot doesn't mean that summer has arrived early but over recent months Bath have proved that – like a good marriage – fidelity through the tough times can make the good times even sweeter.

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