Give fans a refund for abject Bath surrender

Credibility is lost as 13 stars are rested

THE polite term for it is rotation. It could also be called surrender. When Bath arrived at Allianz Park to face Saracens on Saturday, their intention was to lose with honour.

Todd Blackadder’s decision to make 13 changes to his starting XV has ignited a firestorm of protest, with good reason. The New Zealander has every right to consider the needs of his players and select as he sees fit. But everyone else — especially those paying to watch on Saturday — has every right to be unimpressed.

Once the West Country side had duly shipped a half- century of points, despite some gallant resistance from their shadow lineup, Blackadder defended picking a heavily weakened team, saying: ‘I stand by the decision.

‘We’re doing the best thing for our team and our players… otherwise we’ll just end up playing our best team every week and breaking guys.’

Nobody is suggesting that Bath or any other club should just keep sending out the same line-up every week but such an overtly calculating selection is bound to raise the alarm.

Managing a squad by resting a player here and a player there is surely part of the job description in the relentlessly demanding English club game. For a team who went into the weekend fourth in the league to tacitly accept defeat by a powerful opponent pp jars horribly.

Wholesale rotation for certain away matches s has long been an issue in other leagues.

On Saturday Ulster rested a number of top players for their Pro14 trip to Munster and copped a record d 64-7 hiding as a result. t. So why should their fans ans make the trip south at great expense? Why should they care about the fixture, or the outcome?

Likewise for Bath supporters who travelled to the capital. They have every right to demand a refund from their club. They have attended a game which was sold on false pretences. It wwas not a do- or- die sshowdown between potential title rivals, it was a foregone conclusion. Coaches cannot be totold what their best sidside is — hence the impimpossibility of policing this ississue — but the authorities must be alert to a loss of credibility for supposedly elite competitions. Play fewer fixtures and make them meaningful. At a time when the sport is seeking investment and growth, throwing games is not the way to go about it.