Supporters let down, admits Blackadder
Todd Blackadder feels Bath Rugby are letting their fans and themselves down with the way they are playing at the moment. They scored seven minutes from time to draw 7-7 with bottom-ofthe-table Sale Sharks at the Rec yesterday, but the director of rugby admitted it didn’t feel like they had moved up from tenth to sixth in the Premiership. The hosts dominated territory, possession and for the first 50-60 minutes the set-piece, but found themselves trailing by a converted try as the clock ticked down. Speaking after the third draw of the season, Blackadder said: “I think we’re letting our supporters down with the way we’re playing at the moment. We’re letting ourselves down, more importantly. “We’re not playing the kind of rugby we want to play.” Similar to most of the supporters at the Rec, Blackadder’s biggest beef was with the speed of Bath’s play and the way Sale had the edge in the collisions and breakdowns, which further slowed down ball. He added: “We’re not going to wear a team like Sale down – who are a good side – if we keep playing slow. “We were just playing round the corner and that doesn’t help when we’re playing so slow. We were basically setting ourselves up. “We knew what they would bring and they did. We just made it hard for ourselves, but that was not the plan. “Probably the most disappointing thing for us was the break- downs. We knew they’d come hard at the breakdowns. They did, it stopped our flow and we played so slow the first half. “We shouldn’t be getting bullied at the breakdowns. We know clearly what the roles are and what we have to do there, but I thought that was where we let them into the game. “We weren’t really accurate with our carry, ball placement and clean outs, and it allowed Sale to dominate the collisions.” Bath had gone with Francois Louw at six and Sam Underhill at seven together for the first time. Both won a turnover each but were overshadowed in that department by Sale flanker Ben Curry who, due to the fact Bath had two thirds of the ball, had many more opportunities to impose himself. “These guys are really good at the breakdown work, we just didn’t get enough opportunities to get in there and turn those balls over,” Blackadder said. In the first half in particular, Bath spent a lot of time deep in Sale’s 22m. They turned down three shots at goal – tricky ones from the left when it was 0-0 – to go for driving lineouts and close-range scrums. They came away with no points, however. “The guys made the call,” Blackadder said. “They backed themselves and got penalty advantage on the back of that. It was all about building pressure. “We built pressure, went wide, a pass went behind and that released all the pressure we had built. Good teams keep the foot on the throat and stay there until they get points. “If you look at that game, we had a lot of set-piece, a really good scrum. We didn’t play away from it, we got turned over there. “We had a really good lineout drive, we didn’t finish them off. Two lineouts we missed. They’re the things we can control.” It took some magic from Cooper Vuna to get Bath on the scoreboard. He came off the bench, beat Denny Solomona and Sam James then kicked ahead for Joe Cokanasiga to score. James Wilson added the conversion for the draw. “It was about the first time we took the opportunity with space,” said Blackadder. “Cooper made a good line break and it was a great set of skills from him to put Joe in a position to score the try.” Ruaridh Mcconnochie looked good again, this time making his first start at full-back. “I thought he did well,” said the director if rugby. “When he got the ball he carried hard. Probably a couple of slices in his kicking game, but it was tough conditions out there.”