Lilley wants fear factor back in his Bath pack

BATH scrum coach Mark Lilley is relishing a rigorous test of his side’s burgeoning set-piece dominance in West Country derby clashes with Bristol and Exeter.

Bath take on bristol today aiming to extend the run of three straight league wins over Leicester, Worcester and Harlequins, while the Chiefs await next Saturday.

After a perfect set-piece performance against Quins last week former Bath prop Lilley said: “We want to become a feared pack and a team that can dominate the opposition.

“You’ve also got to be smart with that and be able to deliver quality ball, because we’ve got a good backline with dangerous players in there. We’ve got a couple of good challenges coming with Bristol and Exeter, so it will be a good test of where we are.”

With Beno Obano, Tom Dunn and Will Stuart part of England’s Six Nations squad, Lilley is proud of their progress. He said: “They’ve been excellent and have all grown massively over the last six months.

“The great thing is we have so much depth. You can’t just pick the top two in each position all the time, you’ve got to make sure you develop other people – and the majority are English.”

At 32, Lilley is one of the youngest coaches in the Premiership. After starting out in Bath’s academy, his career encompassed spells at Bath, Bristol, London Scottish and Rosslyn Park before he quit playing for coaching two years ago.

He explained: “Coaching has always been on my radar – even when I was in the Bath academy I coached at Oldfield Rugby Club and King Edward’s School.

“My journey as a coach has included Bath University, Beechen Cliff School, our U18s and our A-League side, which are all part of our pathway, so to now be able to ply my trade coaching scrum and maul with the first team has been a good progression.”

Lilley’s involvement at Bath is a family affair with his father, Chris, having propped for Bath during the 80s while older brother Craig now runs the academy. His other brother, Sean, also came through the academy and now coaches King Edward’s.

Mark added: “It’s important to have players and staff who really care about the club, and an objective is to have 50 per cent of our first team squad homegrown by 2023. A lot of investment has gone into our academy and we’re starting to see the rewards of that.”