Russell and Bath face day of destiny in throwback final

There is an old school feel to this weekend’s Premiership final, a famous fixture of yesteryear stirring the nostalgic senses.

- HARRY LATHAM-COYLE RUGBY CORRESPONDENT

Bucket hats once more decorate the domes of the nation’s youth, wideleg jeans have usurped their skinny-fit siblings and the established powers of the 1990s are back in fashion in English rugby, too. Between the inception of the Courage League in 1987 and the introduction of this showpiece affair in 2003, Bath and Leicester Tigers won 12 of the 15 top-flight titles on offer; six trophy tilts apiece in an extended duopoly over the game.

While Tigers have roared repeatedly since, Bath have had to be patient. The last of that run of six titles in eight years is their most recent overall; 29 years coming and going with just three final defeats mustered, foggy memories of silverware long since losing their lustre. A restoration is overdue.

There has been a sense of destiny surrounding this season at Bath. The intent was set by their star fly-half in the immediacy of the final defeat to Northampton. “We’ll just have to do it next year now,” Finn Russell remarked to head coach Johann van Graan on the Twickenham touchline in an aside caught by the TNT Sports microphones and made moments after Saints’ victory had been secured. In truth, Bath had come closer than they should have done on the day, both in the wider context of a campaign in which they had lagged behind their opponents, and given Beno Obano’s early sending off.