AND SO IT BEGINS…PERPIGNAN v BATH

Du Preez: strong

JRR Tolkien didn’t actually pen those words in Lord of the Rings, rather Peter Jackson’s scriptwriters gave them to Théoden to utter at the start of the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Since then, the phrase has found its way into popular usage signifying the start of some challenging task. Bath Rugby won’t be facing hordes of Orcs, although on second thoughts we could all probably name a few of our rivals who fall into that category, but change is always challenging. Depending on how you deal with it you may either expose weaknesses and succumb to threats or preferably you might exploit it to reinforce strengths and grasp opportunities. So how are we placed to meet the challenges that the new season will bring?

The choice of opponents for our pre-season games hints strongly that not only is JvG still aiming to win the Prem but also that he feels that we have unfinished business in Europe. Last season we fell just short in both competitions when we had looked very strong for much of the year. As supporters it felt that the defeat to Bordeaux, with all its attendant controversy, knocked some of the stuffing out of us and we were never fully "on it" in the last few games when it really mattered in the Prem. So, how are we looking as we start the 26/27 campaign with a testing pre-season fixture against USA Perpignan at Stade Aimé Giral?

In recent seasons we've very successfully executed a forward-heavy gameplan together with a kick-chase system relying on arial agility to retain and exploit good ball. That may have to change this season. We no longer have Thomas du Toit and Francois van Wyk up front or Alfie Barbeary at 8. On the face of it those are significant weaknesses, but if Will Stuart and Jaco Coetzee return to the fold fully fit and firing then those are players that other clubs would cast envious glances at. New signing Dan du Preez is a strong ball carrier in his own right and Jamie Bhattie looks like a much-improved player and will do a good job for us in partnership with Beno on the loosehead side of the scrum. You simply can't replace TdT, but I think we'll still have a forward pack to achieve parity with the competition.

That said, having looked at the way other teams, notably Northampton, have evolved their gameplans, it may well be that we see more use made of our incredibly talented backs this year with more of a ball in hand game and the likes of Henry Arundell and Joe Cokanasiga cutting loose and frightening defences. One of the strengths that we can exploit is the retention of the coaching team, bolstered by the arrival of Backs and Attack coach Mike Prendergast who, hopefully, will bring a freshness to our attack that many of us felt was missing after the departure of Lee Blackett.

One of our other strengths is our incredible depth of young talent. I expect this season to be something of a transition year with the likes of Vilikesa Sela, Kepu Tuipulotu, Arthur Green and other "young guns" in a number of positions pushing senior players very hard and winning themselves more game time. We looked a bit predictable towards the end of last season but given the experience of our coaches and the plethora of talent that they have to work with, I think we could be in for an exciting season.

It will be interesting to see how we approach the squad selection for the game against Perpignan. They finished last season near the bottom of the league, but any team in the French Top 14 is going to pose a significant challenge. They had a mixed bag of results towards the end of 25/26 but JvG will have noted that they ran European Champions UBB very close in their penultimate game. They also showed that they have the temperament to win “clutch” matches, ensuring Top 14 survival with a dominant win against Pro D2 runners up Provence in the winner takes all promotion / relegation playoff match. Their season starts in earnest the following weekend with a tough away match against Stade Francais. With that in mind, you would imagine that they will field something like their strongest side which includes some international quality New Zealanders, Argentinians and Fijians as well as home grown French talent, for at least part of the game.

On the other hand, you could argue that it's something of a "phoney war" for Bath. The Prem doesn’t start until 25th September and our first competitive fixture is the Premiership Rugby Cup Round 1 away against the Sharks on 6 September. We then follow that with two more pre-season fixtures against Bedford and Glasgow before getting down to business in the Prem against Quins. With that in mind, I don’t think we'll see too many of our likely Prem squad in action against Perpignan. The priority will be for the PRC squad to get cohesive game time together, although I'm sure JvG will take the opportunity to give some of the players returning from injury some minutes. Of course, I could be wrong - the rules about the number of players that you can field in this sort of game are pretty relaxed and in the past we've fielded virtually a different team in each half!

That's not to say that we won't be competitive; JvG will want to lay down an early marker for the style of play for the season and it will be interesting to see how our pack goes against a tough bunch of Perpignan forwards. JvG will ramp up the intensity, but I think it will be the Glasgow game before we get a true feel for the likely Prem "gun" squad and the style of play for this season.

I started this preview with a Lord of the Rings reference so I'll end with another one; the Chapter entitled "Many Partings". The end of this season will see the last rugby played at the Rec as we know it. Yes, it will be great to have the new stadium but many of us will feel an emotional attachment to that grand old ground with all its flaws, but change is an opportunity to be grasped both on and off the pitch. I'm confident that we're in a good place to embrace the challenges, and look forward to an exciting season, starting in Perpignan.

COYB