Todd Blackadder confident of Bath Rugby's chances in new season

Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder expressed confidence on his side's chances in the upcoming season.

The Recreation Ground outfit made a dramatic finish in the last season with big wins over Gloucester and London Irish in the final two rounds that saw them make a narrow qualification to the European Champions Cup with a sixth-place finish in the league.

Blackadder will have an almost full squad at his disposal with the new recruits looking to make a mark and the former Crusaders boss feels they got their combination right.

“We’ve really focussed on not only finding really good rugby players but good men as well. The character and the leadership that they’ve brought in has been huge.

“I wouldn’t understate it but I wouldn’t overstate it either at the moment but it’s certainly changed the whole dynamic.

"There’s a lot more leadership, the conversations are really focussed on the performance and how we can get better. I think we’ve got it right and we’ve recruited really well and really smartly.”

Bath's preparation were jolted a bit after injuries to Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph while they will also be without Beno Obano but have secured the signing of South African prop Jacques Van Rooyen from Lions to address the woes.

“[It’s] huge for us, we were looking for a really good loosehead, the fact that he [van Rooyen] can play both sides is an absolute bonus.

"It’s great that he was involved in a Super Rugby final, he’s been in a good culture with a good team. It’s good to bring a player of his quality in to bolster the ranks.”

The 46-year-old also stressed on having competition for places and the importance of maintaining a pool of players to manage the workload in what will be another hectic season.

“We can actually train competitively. There’s competition for spots. You cant take things for granted. The workload isn’t managed by the few. Hopefully we can look after our players a lot better.”

Blackadder continues, “I actually think we’ve got a squad of 30-35 players here that you could select every single week that could challenge each other for places that I really, truly believe are Premiership ready.

"If anything, we’ve broadened our base and made it really competitive. If we have a few selection headaches this season, then great.”