Blackadder pleased with first win

Editor

Todd Blackadder praised his forwards and the game management of his scrum-half and fly-half in Bath’s win over Saints on Saturday.

The 18-14 victory ended Bath’s long losing run of results at Franklin’s Gardens with as George Ford kicked all his side’s points.

Blackadder, the new Director of Rugby, was impressed by his forwards who laid the platform for Ford and scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'i to control the game.

I'm just pleased for our players. We had a great week of preparation and they were prepared to work hard for it,” Blackadder told the Bath Chronicle after the game.

“In that first half they absorbed so much pressure and old Georgie kept the scoreboard ticking away. I thought our forward pack worked so hard. I said to the tight five at half-time: 'we're winning this game because of the hard work you put in'.

"Especially in conditions like today (Saturday), there were a couple of really good moments in the game at scrum time when penalties could have gone either way, but our guys kept working hard.

"We also put a lot of pressure on their lineout, which is one of their real weapons. The harder you work the luckier you get, I suppose.

"I thought the first 20 minutes after half-time was outstanding. We played some great footie and nearly lost it at the end."

If there was more time left in the game, Bath may well have blown the victory.

They led by 18 points with six minutes to go, before conceding two late tries and losing Chris Cook to the sin-bin – his fourth yellow card in a year.

"We talked about discipline all week. It was a yellow card under pressure and when you've got a man off it just shows how quickly these games can turn around, and how big a factor discipline is on days like that,” Blackadder said.

"If we do that every week we're going to be under the bus, I suppose."