‘The day that you stop dreaming is the day that you die in life’ – Van Graan’s hunger for success spells danger for Bath’s Premiership rivals
Bath head of rugby (inset) and the club's players celebrate their Premiership final win over Leicester.
Planet Rugby writer Alex Spink gets reaction from Bath’s camp after their 23-21 triumph over Leicester Tigers in the Premiership final at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday.
It was less what they did on the pitch than what they said afterwards. The warning, crystal clear in its delivery, that treble-winning Bath will not be waiting another 29 years to be crowned English champions again.
It came first from Johann van Graan, boss of a club once great, but so long ago the kids of its last league-winning team were playing yesterday at Twickenham.
“When we spoke in the circle at the end we said the best is yet to come,” the former Bulls coach and Springbok technical adviser revealed. “The day that you stop dreaming is the day that you die in life. We want to become better.
‘The best is yet to come’
“Champion teams are teams that win things multiple times. Once you taste something, you want it again. We’ll take our time and enjoy it but the best is yet to come.”
Van Graan’s words were echoed by his captain, Ben Spencer, who cut an emotional figure after Bath scooped the pot three years on from finishing rock bottom of the Gallagher Premiership.
“As long as we keep on wanting to get better the sky is the limit for this team,” said the scrum-half. “The future is unbelievably bright. If we understand there’s always an opportunity to get better then I’m really excited for the next couple of years.”
Words can be cheap in glory moments. Sport is littered with examples of teams and individuals following trophy lifts with promises they are unable to live up to.
Aside from Saracens, no club has won back-to-back Premiership crowns for 15 years. Northampton, champions a year ago, finished eighth of 10 this time.
This Bath team just might be different. For a start they have dominated across the season, winning the Premiership Cup, the European Challenge Cup and now getting their hands on the Holy Grail.
They did it with the sharpest attack, the meanest defence and a ‘never too high, never too low’ mentality established by Van Graan whereby the squad made an art form out of resetting to zero each Monday and going again.
Success does not always breed success, contrary to the old adage. But this is a club that has waited so long for a slice that there is no mistaking its appetite for another.
Finn Russell, Bath’s talismanic playmaker, will have enjoyed last night with his family and team mates after a sublime campaign for the blue, black and whites. Yet there was no mic drop from him.
Before this season he had only one trophy to his name, the 2015 PRO12 with Glasgow. He flies to Dublin on Monday to join up with the British and Irish Lions intent on making up for lost time.
Such ambition in a 30-something is not exclusive to him either. Spencer won multiple league and European crowns with Saracens and even played in the 2019 World Cup final for England. At 32, he wants more.
“I’m never going to say I don’t want to play international rugby because as a kid that’s all you ever dreamed of,” he told Planet Rugby. “The way I try and do that is by trying to play my best rugby for the club and see what happens from there.
“In terms of my hunger and desire to play international rugby, I don’t think that will ever fade. As long as I play the game in the Premiership and in England I’ll always have that ambition to pull on the Red Rose.
‘I’ll continue to put my best foot forward with Bath’
“At the end of the day it’s down to Steve [Borthwick] to decide who does that. I’ll continue to put my best foot forward with Bath and see what comes of that.”
Saturday’s victory for Bath at Allianz Stadium was built on an opening try scored by Thomas du Toit, the South African prop named in the Premiership team of the year for the past two seasons and shortlisted this time for the individual award.
Is he now done? At the age of 30 is the Capetonian fulfilled and ready to kick back, take the strain off his body and sail off into the sunset? Don’t bet on it.
“I’ve always said my top priority is playing for the Springboks,” said Du Toit. “It’s my biggest dream. It’s my biggest honour in rugby and something that I want to pursue for as long as I can.
“Hopefully that dream can still become reality. If I can keep my conditioning up, keep up with the game and stay relevant to how the Springboks play, I hope I can still be there.”
There are no guarantees in sport. Look at how it ended for England centurions Ben Youngs and Dan Cole on their final appearance for Leicester. They hoped for a fairy tale. They didn’t get one.
Youngs would dearly love to have back the box kick which ended Tigers hopes, giving away precious possession with his forwards hammering on the door for a winning score.
Cole’s regret will be even greater. Fresh off the bench he caught Russell late and was yellow carded. Not only did he spend the final 10 minutes of his career in the sin bin, the resultant three points provided the opposition with the buffer it needed.
Today Bath begin their first full day as champions of England, seeing only sunlit uplands ahead. They should savour the moment. As Youngs and Cole will testify, nothing is assured in this game.
READ MORE: Bath: Ben Spencer claims ‘sky is the limit’ after securing historic treble
