Van Graan’s Bath bring the fire power to France

Bath’s South African Director of Rugby, Johann van Graan, promised that this would be the season the club made a statement in the Investec Champions Cup. They delivered on that promise in France on Friday night by defeating Castres.

Bath, the reigning EPCR Challenge Cup and English Premiership champions, were brutal in their destruction of the hosts, securing a convincing bonus-point win.

The English side scored six tries in what ended up being a statement performance on the road.

They clearly put the disappointment of their Round 2 defeat to RC Toulon behind them as they were back to their best in Castres.

Despite going behind early on and then again soon after, Johann van Graan’s men proved too strong as they limited the French side to just three points in the second half.

“I’m really happy with our cohesiveness”, Van Graan said post-match.

“We stuck to our plan, played against the wind in the second half, we defended our line really, really well.”

The coach went on to recognise the importance of a six-try showing:

“Getting that bonus point is massive”, he said.

It was a feeling shared by Investec Player of the Match Alfie Barbeary, who was equally delighted with the five points.

“It’s a big competition and every point is crucial”, he said.

“To get a bonus point here is huge.

“You need that extra point, especially if you look at the group there’s some fierce competition there.”

Fly-half Finn Russell had a solid game from 10 as he kicked over 13 points despite some challenging conditions.

“It was great to get the five points”, the Scot started.

“We didn’t start off that well conceding a try and a couple of yellow cards, but the performance was good.

“Coming away to Castres is one of the hardest places to go, so it was good that the boys dug in and got the win.”

Next up for Bath is a rematch of their EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final from last year against Edinburgh Rugby. Both them and the Scots secured the five points tonight, so it’s promises to be a cracker next weekend.