Welcome back to the Salford Stadium for a really big game against the Gallagher Premiership leaders, Bath. We’ve had some massive battles against Johan and his team over the past few years and I don’t think this one will be any different. Both sides are missing some big players but you’ll see two teams stacked with quality and determined to dominate. 

With so many of the lads away, it’s been a challenging week to say the least, but it’s one I really hope we have to repeat because I want these guys to play for their country. Everyone knows that we had seven lads called up initially to the England squad, then Raffi was added to that and with Reedy called into the Scotland squad and WillGriff John receiving a well-deserved call-up to the Wales squad, we had a couple of absentees there that we didn’t expect to have to manage. It’s amazing for the lads, and I’m genuinely so happy for them, but it’s thrown a few curveballs in for the coaches. 

I wear two hats in weeks like this. First and foremost it’s what’s best for the club and clearly that’s to have all our best players available as much as possible. The other hat is looking after what’s best for the person and the player. I want them to strive to be the best people and players they can be and that means playing international rugby. It’s a tricky balance for every club but my overarching feeling is one of pride that we’re providing more players to the England squad than any other Gallagher Premiership club. That tells me that we’re doing something right here. 

The lads who have come in, who maybe haven’t played as much as they’d like this season, have slotted in really well and if they had any doubts over what was expected of them, Daniel du Preez laid it out in pretty stark terms in training on Wednesday. Yes, some of the big personalities and leaders are away, but we can’t let that be an excuse for performances to drop. We’ve still got a really good team out there this weekend and I’m confident the lads can do the job and keep our home run going. If anything, it’s a massive opportunity for these lads to lay a marker down and tell us, as coaches, that they deserve to start, even when everyone’s available. It’s inevitable that you lose some cohesion but you have to have faith in your squad, and I absolutely have faith in every single player in the 23 this weekend. How can these lads get momentum? How can they step up and lead when they haven’t had game time? Those are the things we’ve had to fast-track in a week, and I’m excited to see what we can do. 

We are a different team at home and our away form is something we need to address for the run-in, but it’s not one for now. This week it’s about embracing what makes it so special to play at home and making sure the Salford Stadium is a horrible place for Bath to visit on Sunday. To be honest, we try not to separate home and away games, but there’s clearly something in it, and whatever that is, we want to harness it this weekend against a really good Bath team, who are flying high at the top of the table and coming here full of confidence, playing well.  

They lost to Leinster in the Champions Cup last week but I’ve got no doubts that they’ll be able to shake off that defeat because for plenty of that game they were right in the fight. Hopefully they’ll underestimate us, but we’re not banking on that. 

Bath are a fantastic team and Johan has done a brilliant job since he took the job on. While everyone highlights the impact of Finn Russell, and those silky miss-passes, that’s not what makes them the most effective team in the league in the opposition 22. That’s down to the physicality they possess, around the corner and around the ruck. Our collision dominance is the best in Europe and unless we use that – and we will – it’ll be too easy for them in our 22. Our last game against Bath was a big defeat and it led to us really taking a look at our coaching structure and what we were doing wrong. It wasn’t a happy time and it’s not a feeling I want to have again. 

I spoke last week about the Toulon game and this game being mega important for our season. Win them both and we’re in the mix, right where we want to be for the run-in. We did the first part of that last week really well, and now it’s down to the lads to make sure we’re in the top four going into the Premiership Cup window.  

The Toulon game was really pleasing for plenty of reasons, but the best thing for me wasn’t actually the result. In the two games previous we didn’t convert pressure into points, and the lads got frustrated and that led to us becoming snatchy and desperate and getting caught on transition. That didn’t happen against Toulouse. We had so much pressure and plenty of opportunities in the first half and actually, the first try we scored was the hardest opportunity we had. There were loads more occasions when we could have taken easier chances, but the lads came in at half-time calm and composed and they knew that if they kept doing the right things, the floodgates would open and thankfully this time that’s what happened. Dealing with negative outcomes and going again has been something we haven’t always done well this season but against a really good Toulon team, we did that and we got the reward.  

Our intent, and the consistency of selection since the Autumn should tell you that we are going for everything this season. This game feels like a massive step towards setting up that run-in, and I know you’ll play your part. 

Enjoy the game, sing your hearts out and get behind the lads like you always do, 

Al