Growing resolve can stymie Saints
Resilient Bath out ‘to fire shots’ on Northampton trip
Confident Todd Blackadder says Bath Rugby have the improved defensive strength to stifle freescoring Northampton Saints. The team from the East Midlands have plundered more than 40 tries in their last four games in all competitions, including a 67-17 demolition of Sale Sharks at Franklin’s Gardens last weekend. They’re at home again on Saturday as Bath are the visitors, looking to continue their progression up the crowded Premiership table. While the Blue, Black and White were conceding three or four tries per game early in the season and looked weak defending scrums and lineouts, over the past five league matches they have conceded fewer points than any other team – 71 – at an average of 14 per match. The director of rugby said: “We’ve now got everyone on the same page with our system. “The tackle technique has been better, we’ve been slowing the ball down and making sure we’re well and truly prepared for what attack is coming. “We’ve put a lot of time into it and it’s come right, and on the back of that defence we’re getting a lot more counter-attack opportunities. “If you were talking about Bath you’d say first-phase defence we were really poor and now we’re one of the best. I think our defence has been outstanding in recent weeks.” Bath’s bonus-point win at home to Newcastle Falcons last weekend moved them up to sixth in the table, while Saints are two points behing them in seventh. The visitors will be without in-form Semesa Rokoduguni, who has a knee injury, but Dave Attwood should have recovered from a bruised shoulder to retain his spot in the second row. “We’re really excited about the trip to Northampton and it makes it even easier as far as our preparation goes because they are in form and they’ve obviously got a lot of confidence,” Blackadder said. “We’re in a good space ourselves. We’re confident in our systems and structures and this is a great test. “They’ve got big ball carriers, they like to get on the front foot, they’ve got a good lineout. For us it’s about preparing for that.” With the ball, Bath have been more ambitious and expansive in recent weeks and have been looking much more dangerous. The only thing that appears to be holding them back is the consistent accuracy to deliver the killer moves and structures. Co-captain Will Chudley is loving being at the centre of all of that. “The coaches have given us licence to make decisions and play what we see. That makes us a very threatening team,” he said. “We’ve got multiple options and threats all over the pitch, which makes us very hard to defend. “We’ve got some very dangerous players, which helps make those systems work. We’re going out there to fire shots.”