By The Telegraph (World News) | Created at 2024-10-26 13:30:37 | Updated at 2024-10-26 15:33:09
2 hours ago
Johann van Graan says his Bath side will not be affected by England call ups when they face Sale this afternoon. With Steve Borthwick’s men facing the All Blacks at Twickenham next Saturday today’s hosts will be without five players. But for their coach that should prove to be no obstacle as they look to make if five wins out of six.
“This weekend will the same for all teams who have English internationals. We knew from a few months ago that there’ll be a camp this week, what you don’t know is who will be picked. So for us, it’s not a massive disruption,” Van Graan said.
“Obviously, it would be great to have Ben, Ollie, Charlie, Sam and Will available but it’s the next man in. And at tighthead I think Thomas [du Toit] has been playing some excellent rugby, whether he’s playing from the bench or starting.
“We’ve also got Archie Griffin who is back in training, and then we’ve got Billy Sela who used his opportunity against Leicester, and Kieran Verden has been training in the background really well - we played him against Edinburgh a few weeks ago.
“Loose forwards, you’ve got Guy [Pepper], Miles [Reid], Ethan Staddon, Josh [Bayliss], you’ve got Jaco [Coetzee] available. Ewan Richards can play on the flanks, Tom Cowan is available.
“At nine you’ve got Louis [Schreuder], Tom Carr-Smith, Neil Le Roux, Ieuan Davies all available. At centre, Cam [Redpath], Louie Hennessey who has done really really well. Arguably, Will Butt has been one of the form players of the Premiership, he just keeps getting better every single week. It really is the next man in. It’s a squad and we are so proud of our squad. Every team will have to manage their squad this weekend.”
Bath edged out Harlequins 26-24 last time out to continue their fine form and Van Graan wants Bath to continue to be hard to defeat.
“We’ve become tough to beat over the last two and a half years,” he said.
“We have resilience and belief in what we do and we play for not only each other but everyone in our circle and every one at the club. We’ve very proud of what we do and we’ve got each other’s backs. The sign of a good team is when things don’t go your way, you keep your nerve and I think on both yellow cards, the other 14 guys backed up the player not on the pitch. That’s the sign of a good team, a hungry team and team who wants to keep getting better.”
Stay here for all the action with kick-off set for 3.05.
