Matson has total faith in rejuvenated Lion Joseph
BATH head coach Tabai Matson reckons Jonathan Joseph’s best is yet to come as the gifted outsidecentre looks to recover from his Lions disappointment.
England linchpin Joseph struggled towards the end of last season and failed to feature in any of the three Tests during the drawn series in New Zealand.
However, Matson expects all his returning Lions to be roaring for the new Premiership campaign, telling The Rugby Paper: “Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson and Toby Faletau have all scrubbedup well in training and I’m sure we’ll see the best of JJ.
“It’s one of those things where you go on a long tour which is mentally as well as physically demanding; they got battered in New Zealand by the media and JJ didn’t play in as many of those last few matches as he’d have liked, so I’m sure he’ll be really keen to put that behind him now and get back to full form for us in the Premiership.
“Mentally, all three of our Lions guys have rolled in very well and they appear well rested. JJ looks rejuvenated and he’s really enjoying his training, so it’s a big season for him and us and he’ll be ready to hit the new campaign with a bang.
“We’ve got a difficult start and we’re counting on those Lions guys to carry the baton for us straight away and lead us throughout the season.”
Watson, below, starred for the Lions on the right wing, reopening the debate over where his best position lies given the player’s ambition to usurp Mike Brown as England’s fullback.
Matson said: “Anthony was the pick of the Lions backline on many occasions and it was fantastic to see him doing what he did in New Zealand. We’ll be a bit oneeyed at Bath but it was great to see him on a world-class stage looking phenomenal. “I’m sure he’s going to bounce into this new season and just continue with those performances and be recognised as an internationally dominant player. “He started a number of games at full-back for us last season and he has those aspirations to play there for England, but he’s clearly world-class on the wing as well and there are some difficult decisions to make for us and Eddie Jones. “Over a long season people end up doing different jobs so Anthony will definitely play in both positions for us. You’re seeing that more these days, with world-class players like Israel Dagg and Ben Smith being versatile in where they play.” Matson revealed how Bath have altered their preseason training regime with a view to slashing the number of head injuries they have sustained. He said: “One thing we’ve really concentrated on is our tackling and collision work and we’ve spent one day a week on trying to protect our players through better techniques.
“There was a spike in HIAs across the Premiership last season and we’re hoping that work will pay dividends as we had too many people on the sidelines.”
Bath have endured nine years without silverware, but Matson reckons he and rugby director Todd Blackadder have been inspired to end that lengthy drought after watching their former side Crusaders lift the Super Rugby trophy.
Matson added: “All coaches are proud when they see players they coached win a championship and it was great to see our old team win.
“We coached a lot of those boys from an early age and were communicating with the Crusaders guys before and after that final. We’re really happy for them and Todd and I are now desperate to do something similar ourselves this year.
“We’re here to win championships and there’d be nothing more pleasing in my life than to win the Premiership with Bath. We feel we’ve got the squad and, hopefully, the frustration of not winning a trophy for so long will create an edge.”