“We came to the home of Champions and won” – Johann van Graan on Bath Rugby bonus point win against Saracens

Bath Rugby coach Johann van Graan hailed his team’s mentality on their 16-25 away win over the defending champions, Saracens.

“The two things that stood out to me today is our mental toughness we came back straight away with two tries and then just before it started to rain so we adapted our plan at half time and I feel we played the second half in the right part of the pitch so I’m happy with the away win.”

Saturday saw tries from Tom De Glanville, Miles Reid and Ruaridh McConnochie before half time with Thomas du Toit adding the bonus-point score after the break.

Van Graan discussed the importance of the pack during their performance at the StoneX: “I think for the forwards it was a big battle at mauls and scrum time and we knew we needed to dominate there. The battle on the floor too – the pitch is very different to what the Rec offers and I thought we did that well.”

Finn Russell had his first start for Bath since he returned from the World Cup. The fly-half was an influential player who controlled the game significantly. Van Grann explained: “The expectation for him to do well is very high from the outside, and we will always have to deal with that, he played very well in tough conditions and it is only week two for him, just think about where he will be in a year’s time.”

As always with Saracens, kicking was a huge part of the game which put Bath’s full-back under immense pressure.

Grann added: “It was real team effort of 23 guys who put their bodies on the line, we spoke about our mental resilience, we came close here last season and I’m just glad for the group about the win.”

It is a promising mindset for Bath to take into this weekend as they face Leicester Tigers at home on Saturday.