Jeremy Guscott ‘at a loss’ over England snub and compares Springbok to Martin Johnson
Jeremy Guscott previews the PREM Rugby clash between Bath and Leicester Tigers.
Jeremy Guscott, one of the greatest finishers in rugby history, believes the key to success for Bath against Leicester Tigers this weekend lies in how they start.
Home advantage in the Gallagher PREM play-offs is at stake when second plays third at the Recreation Ground in a repeat of last year’s final.
Bath, the English champions, have lost only five times in the league all season but three of those have come in their past four outings and their lead over Tigers is down to two points.
Guscott scored 143 tries for the club during a legendary career and says watching his old team under Johann van Graan has helped him fall back in love with the game he graced a quarter of a century and more ago.
“I take or leave rugby depending on how exciting and enjoyable it is,” the man dubbed the Prince of Centres admits. “I’m loving it at the moment.”
Bath must start fast
He accepts, however, that Bath‘s star-studded team have “all been just a little bit off” for a month or so and need to get it right from the opening kick-off to beat Tigers.
“It’s far from panic stations,” says Guscott, who remains England’s fourth highest try scorer, second only to Will Greenwood among non wings. “If Bath get everything right on Saturday it is going to be very hard for Leicester.
“Their challenge, for me, is starting quicker. If there is one tiny thing I’d like to see them do better it’s start quick; be in the game right from the first whistle.”
The stakes are huge given history suggests finishing third is a death sentence.
No PREM club ending the regular season in that position has reached the final since 2010 when Saracens became only the second side (after London Irish in 2009) to buck the trend in 20 years of the play-offs.
Bath’s downturn in form since late April has seen them lose to Northampton, Exeter and Bristol in the league and Bordeaux in the semi-finals of the Investec Champions Cup.
In those games they fell behind 21-7 to Saints, 13-0 to Exeter and 24-12 to Bordeaux. Only against Bristol was the damage done later.
Their prospects this weekend are not improved by the continued absence of Finn Russell. Santi Carreras starts at 10.
“The perspective of Bath is they’re a team that waits for its bench to come,” Guscott adds. “I think that’s the view the public has. They need to change that.”
Through autumn, winter and into spring Bath’s 23-man package proved irresistible. The sight of Thomas du Toit, Alfie Barbeary, Santi Carreras et al coming on to close out games put the fear of dread into opponents.
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As Guscott, says, it is hardly a crisis. Bath have lost at home once all season and if they beat Leicester they will stay at the Rec for the semi-final. But recent form means they can’t take that as read.
“Bath have to be faster starters: start winning games before the bench come on,” he continues. “They’ve got to have scored two or three tries by then, have really put the opposition under the cosh.
“Be a side that when a team goes to play them they think, ‘Jesus, they’re coming right from the beginning. And they’ve got a bench coming on after 45 minutes’.
Guscott, 60, makes no secret of being a “huge” fan of the club, albeit one who also probably has bigger expectations “because, I think, if you played you’re looking for perfection.
“You know it’s impossible to attain, but it doesn’t stop you trying to achieve it.
“I love Bath. I was born in Bath, stay in Bath, raised in Bath. You can’t help following a club you started playing for when you were seven years old.”
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Until director of rugby Van Graan arrived from Munster four seasons ago he concedes there were times it was “hard to go down and watch”.
Guscott adds: “For a number of years we had some great names down there, both playing and coaching. And it just never happened. It’s tough to watch a team you love just not get it together.”
“The quality of rugby was so sporadic and different. It wasn’t consistent. There was one season, when George Ford was at 10 and they got to the final, where the rugby was sublime. Other years were more challenging to watch.
“Then Johann arrived and I remember Bath winning the last four games of his first season to go from bottom to eighth. That was the beginning. Then Finn Russell and Thomas du Toit arrived.
“Time stands still when Finn has the ball, as it does for really good players. As for Thomas, he must be the most consistent performer I’ve seen. Martin Johnson never had a poor game. I don’t think Thomas has either.”
Guscott expects it to be tense on Saturday. “If you’re playing you can’t help but be nervous, given what’s at stake,” he says.
Max Ojomoh vital
But he is confident his hometown team have the wherewithal to overcome a very good Leicester side, particularly with centre Max Ojomoh back fit and firing.
Guscott knows all there is to know about midfield play at the highest level and cannot, for the life of him, understand Ojomoh’s England omission from the Six Nations.
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“I remember getting dropped by England and thinking: ‘I can’t change that. The decision’s been made. I just have to carry on playing and trying to play well’,” he says.
“I think Max has done that. With little appreciation and no reward from England. I’m at a loss as to why he wasn’t given an opportunity in the Six Nations.
“When you look at his body of work for Bath since being man of the match against Argentina in the autumn, it’s very difficult to understand why he hasn’t been given another opportunity.”
A performance too good to ignore from Ojomoh, built on a fast start, would delight Guscott. If not Leicester.
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