Bath out to go one step further this time around

TWO years after finishing bottom of the Premiership, Bath were a score away from the title.

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They were on the attack in Northampton's 22 with time up at Twickenham having played for an hour with 14 men after Beno Obano's red card for a dangerous tackle, but the move broke down and their long wait for the trophy went on.

The defeat hurt, but it also showed why Bath had come a very long way in the two years Johann van Graan had been head coach.

The South African joined after the club had finished an ignominious 13th out of 13 with teams regarding them as a buffet, helping themselves: they twice conceded 71 points and went for 64 in another two matches, as impregnable as a sandcastle when the tide rolls in.

What Bath showed in the final was a fighting spirit and conditioning that had been glaringly absent before his arrival. They had demonstrated throughout the campaign they were able to stay in the fight, even rallying after being 40-3 down at Harlequins as they closed the gap to four points.

They had come from 22-8 down to beat Racing 92 in the Champions Cup, scored 35 second-half points against Gloucester at Kingsholm after trailing 20-10 at the interval and six of their seven Premiership defeats went down to the wire as they picked up at least one bonus point in defeat.

The one exception was at Leicester on New Year's Even when van Graan made 12 changes from the side that had defeated Harlequins the previous week. He had given every one of his players a tailor-made plan before the start of the season and after two Champions Cup weekends with two more to come rested his big-hitters.

It earned home criticism at the time but served the side in the closing weeks of the season. Bath won the second half 12-7 and were a try away from two bonus points in another game that showed how they had evolved as a side: never giving up and difficult to put away.