There are various plots and sub-plots running through Bath Rugby's season. Chief among them is a South African narrative, and it has three strands to it.
At various stages this term, each of Bath's South African players has had pressure heaped on his shoulders. And the story of Bath's season will, in no small part, depend on how those players – Michael Claassens, Luke Watson and Butch James – respond to that pressure.
The first part of the narrative is Michael Claassens' captaincy. Claassens has been supping from what has been a toxic chalice ever since he took on the Bath armband in the wake of the summer's drug allegations.
His appointment was something I whole-heartedly supported. Following the party-culture – perceived or otherwise – that had grown up around the club's previous captain, Bath needed a steady, responsible hand on the tiller. A married workhorse like Claassens was just the ticket.
Unfortunately for Claassens and unfortunately for everyone associated with the club, the fallout from the summer cut deeper than anyone could have predicted. In those circumstances, leading a team was always going to be tricky. Even Martin Johnson would face a stiff task.
The denouement to Claassens' captaincy is not yet worked out, largely because it depends on the successes or otherwise of his compatriots.
And that takes us to the second thread. There was no shortage of excitement in the build-up to Luke Watson flying in from Cape Town in November. As the hysteria mounted, head coach Steve Meehan cautioned against fans viewing him as a 'messiah' but the charismatic forward hasn't disappointed.
The plot of Watson's life is itself an intriguing one and it's clear his ambitions for Bath are the very opposite of modest. And there's no doubt his arrival has injected spine and audacity into the Bath pack.
"Pressure is under-rated," Watson declared within minutes of walking on to The Rec. And it is a mentality that he has reflected in his play. Nothing perturbs him.
Is Watson a captain in waiting? The principal arguments in favour of this are that: a) he is a natural leader with a proven record in successfully captaining a team, and b) by arriving after the summer's shenanigans he carries no Bath baggage.
But Claassens as captain with Watson as pack leader may yet turn out to be the best formula for Bath. That's because I'd argue that, in the absence of Butch James playing outside him during such a difficult period, we've yet to see the best of Claassens as a skipper.
And so to our final installment of Bath's South African chronicles, Butch James (pictured).
If there was a certain expectation around Watson's arrival, then the expectation around James' return from injury is even stronger, despite his gammy knees.
With the exception of that inspiring first-half performance against Stade Francais at The Rec, moments of attacking guile and brilliance from Bath have been few and far between this season. That dearth of flair has stemmed from neither Nicky Little nor Ryan Davis having shown sufficient consistency or dynamism at fly-half to get the backs firing.
As James has acknowledged, there is pressure on him and he was only half-joking this week when he said that he wished Olly Barkley was returning for the Sale game too, as that would dilute some of the focus on him.
The dream denouement for Bath fans is that James comes back all guns blazing, thereby making his half-back partner relax into his captaincy role. Watson, meanwhile, elevates the Bath pack's belief with a string of uncompromising showings.
Fact or fiction? We'll know in a couple of months.
No comments:
Post a Comment