The millions pumped in by the club's new owner are clearly being put to use. The only thing missing is the team
Bath's Ryan Caldwell looks dejected after their Heineken Cup defeat against Leinster. The team hope to make amends against Northampton. Photo: Julien Behal/PA
At first glance there is much to admire about Bath's stately headquarters, Hungerford House, set in sculptured grounds in north Somerset. The deer park has been levelled to make a second training pitch, skilled tradesmen are making a fine job of converting the chapel into a gymnasium and a 20ft Christmas tree fits into the main lobby – a panelled hall, which sits alongside another panelled room used by the physios – with plenty to spare.
It may be more Brideshead than Kingsholm, but Bruce Craig's millions are clearly being put to use. The only thing missing is the team. This week they have retreated to the much-maligned former training ground 20 minutes' drive away at Lambridge – a square of flood plain bounded by the road to London and the Avon. That is when the river does not cover the entire ground.
Lambridge, where some players of the club's golden (amateur) era refused to train when it was wet, is once again where Bath are preparing for top-flight rugby, such as Saturday's game at Northampton, because one deer-park pitch is too wet and the other is not yet up to scratch. This is hard to believe, but is part of what Martin Haag calls the difference between perception and reality at Bath these days.
The first-team coach, who spent most of his playing career training at Lambridge, says it is easy to be confused by the depth of Craig's pockets. "There is this perception about us that we have this huge amount of money and fantastic facilities. You come to this place and it's a fantastic environment in which to train. But you haven't been round the back to see the gym's not quite ready yet and the players have to get changed in the big hall.
"We are not pampered here," says the former second-row who, as one of Sir Ian McGeechan's lieutenants, has just been preparing the squad for Saturday's first leg in a pivotal three games over Christmas and New Year. After Northampton, who are acquiring momentum after a poor start to the season, come London Irish, in one of the four play-off positions. And then there are Saracens, at present second behind the runaway league leaders and current European darlings, Harlequins.
Get the next few weeks right and Bath can get a lift from their lowly 10th spot in the league. First, though, they have to put behind them the hangover of a comprehensive defeat last weekend by Leinster, which opened the exit door from the Heineken Cup and gave Bath a good idea of where they stand in the European pecking order.
When Craig bought Bath from Andrew Brownsword 20 months ago, the new owner made joining the European aristocracy one of his targets along with setting a deadline of one year in which to find an answer to that intractable problem about where Bath should play their rugby: at the Rec, their run-down home for the past 116 years or on one of two new sites which had been identified and on which Craig envisaged an all-seat stadium for 20,000.
Craig certainly has the money, having sold Marken, an international distributions services company for the pharmaceutical industry, for £975m, but almost two years on nothing concrete has yet been decided about the Rec – even though, it is said, headway is being made – and in Dublin last Saturday night his team suffered their biggest defeat in the Heineken Cup.
The champions of 1998, who beat Brive by a single point in Bordeaux to take the cup, suffered a seven-try beating in front of 40,000 Irish fans at the splendidly futuristic Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Following a run of five defeats in six matches, Dublin has provoked a lot of hard thinking in the austere, Gothic headquarters at Farleigh Hungerford, although Haag insists not everything is doom and gloom.
"It wasn't one to dwell on too much," Haag says. "We have got to keep believing. With all our game it's always evolving and there are things that we have worked on in the last few weeks that we can see are improving in the game."
He also insists Craig, who was pretty quick to shift the previous head coach, Steve Meehan, still has confidence in McGeechan, his director of rugby, and the coaching staff. "He's involved in that he is very committed to this club," Haag says. "He talks on a regular basis with the coaches and he watches a lot of games."
But is he happy? After all, in Meehan's past two seasons at the club, Bath finished fifth on both occasions and that clearly was not good enough. "He's probably like the coaches and players and he's not happy because we have not performed for whatever reason."
One of those reasons, says Haag, is that Bath are plagued with injuries: 16 in the sick bay when they went to Dublin. Preparing for Europe, he says, is not difficult, "but it is difficult when you've only got one hooker fit and you've got a prop covering hooker … and your openside flanker is your reserve hooker and throwing in. It's not tough when you've got everyone fit and you're flying."
But surely Craig's bank balance could buy Bath out of trouble? Not so, says Haag, who again cites the difference between perception and reality. Yes, extending squads by possibly six players would help any English club compete in Europe but, he adds: "There is a salary cap. Are we paying £8m – £4m over salary cap? No we are not.
"There is this perception that any player who is any good is going to sign for Bath. Unfortunately that is not the truth. We are very happy with our squad. We always need to look at strengthening it when we can, but there are rules and regulations and we stick to those. We are on the same even keel as anyone else."
It may be more Brideshead than Kingsholm, but Bruce Craig's millions are clearly being put to use. The only thing missing is the team. This week they have retreated to the much-maligned former training ground 20 minutes' drive away at Lambridge – a square of flood plain bounded by the road to London and the Avon. That is when the river does not cover the entire ground.
Lambridge, where some players of the club's golden (amateur) era refused to train when it was wet, is once again where Bath are preparing for top-flight rugby, such as Saturday's game at Northampton, because one deer-park pitch is too wet and the other is not yet up to scratch. This is hard to believe, but is part of what Martin Haag calls the difference between perception and reality at Bath these days.
The first-team coach, who spent most of his playing career training at Lambridge, says it is easy to be confused by the depth of Craig's pockets. "There is this perception about us that we have this huge amount of money and fantastic facilities. You come to this place and it's a fantastic environment in which to train. But you haven't been round the back to see the gym's not quite ready yet and the players have to get changed in the big hall.
"We are not pampered here," says the former second-row who, as one of Sir Ian McGeechan's lieutenants, has just been preparing the squad for Saturday's first leg in a pivotal three games over Christmas and New Year. After Northampton, who are acquiring momentum after a poor start to the season, come London Irish, in one of the four play-off positions. And then there are Saracens, at present second behind the runaway league leaders and current European darlings, Harlequins.
Get the next few weeks right and Bath can get a lift from their lowly 10th spot in the league. First, though, they have to put behind them the hangover of a comprehensive defeat last weekend by Leinster, which opened the exit door from the Heineken Cup and gave Bath a good idea of where they stand in the European pecking order.
When Craig bought Bath from Andrew Brownsword 20 months ago, the new owner made joining the European aristocracy one of his targets along with setting a deadline of one year in which to find an answer to that intractable problem about where Bath should play their rugby: at the Rec, their run-down home for the past 116 years or on one of two new sites which had been identified and on which Craig envisaged an all-seat stadium for 20,000.
Craig certainly has the money, having sold Marken, an international distributions services company for the pharmaceutical industry, for £975m, but almost two years on nothing concrete has yet been decided about the Rec – even though, it is said, headway is being made – and in Dublin last Saturday night his team suffered their biggest defeat in the Heineken Cup.
The champions of 1998, who beat Brive by a single point in Bordeaux to take the cup, suffered a seven-try beating in front of 40,000 Irish fans at the splendidly futuristic Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Following a run of five defeats in six matches, Dublin has provoked a lot of hard thinking in the austere, Gothic headquarters at Farleigh Hungerford, although Haag insists not everything is doom and gloom.
"It wasn't one to dwell on too much," Haag says. "We have got to keep believing. With all our game it's always evolving and there are things that we have worked on in the last few weeks that we can see are improving in the game."
He also insists Craig, who was pretty quick to shift the previous head coach, Steve Meehan, still has confidence in McGeechan, his director of rugby, and the coaching staff. "He's involved in that he is very committed to this club," Haag says. "He talks on a regular basis with the coaches and he watches a lot of games."
But is he happy? After all, in Meehan's past two seasons at the club, Bath finished fifth on both occasions and that clearly was not good enough. "He's probably like the coaches and players and he's not happy because we have not performed for whatever reason."
One of those reasons, says Haag, is that Bath are plagued with injuries: 16 in the sick bay when they went to Dublin. Preparing for Europe, he says, is not difficult, "but it is difficult when you've only got one hooker fit and you've got a prop covering hooker … and your openside flanker is your reserve hooker and throwing in. It's not tough when you've got everyone fit and you're flying."
But surely Craig's bank balance could buy Bath out of trouble? Not so, says Haag, who again cites the difference between perception and reality. Yes, extending squads by possibly six players would help any English club compete in Europe but, he adds: "There is a salary cap. Are we paying £8m – £4m over salary cap? No we are not.
"There is this perception that any player who is any good is going to sign for Bath. Unfortunately that is not the truth. We are very happy with our squad. We always need to look at strengthening it when we can, but there are rules and regulations and we stick to those. We are on the same even keel as anyone else."
