This is Bath -- Mike Ford says Bath Rugby's coaching staff are enthusiastic about the future of the club despite the Aviva Premiership final-day defeat at Saracens scuppering their bid to play in the Heineken Cup next season. Bath needed to record victory at Allianz Park and hope local rivals Gloucester triumphed at Exeter Chiefs' Sandy Park to climb into the required top-six qualification spot. Gary Gold's side were handed a 23-14 defeat as Saracens topped the Premiership regular season standings, however, while Chiefs shaded a topsy-turvy contest 40-39, meaning Bath finished one place short in seventh. Although Bath missed out on their target of a return to Europe's top-tier competition following a season of Amlin Cup action, first-team coach Ford said the club's youthful recruitment policy points to a bright future at The Rec. "We have set a good foundation. Probably the spectators and the people who are not directly involved can't see that, but we have worked on our culture a lot and put a few things in place that hopefully will bear fruition next year," said Ford. "We're disappointed that we haven't qualified. That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we've not achieved that. "But we think we've recruited well. We've gone for young British talent. They'll bring ambition and the motivation we need to go a step further. "It's not all despondent and we are really pleased with some of the things we've done this year, not necessarily that you can see if you look at scores, but there's been a lot of work gone on behind the scenes." Bath looked set for a tough afternoon at Allianz Park and tries from England winger Chris Ashton and British & Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola put Sarries 13-0 up inside 25 minutes. Rob Webber's touchdown gave Bath a lifeline just before the break, while Owen Farrell's second-half try for Sarries was cancelled out when Horacio Agulla crossed the whitewash. Bath's fightback came too late, however, and the home side were able to see out the contest in the closing stages. "It was Saracens at home with a full side out and we ran them really close. I think we showed a great character to get back to 20-14 down," added Ford. "I thought we had them as they might possibly have made their subs too early - they took some influential players off. "We had a scrum underneath the sticks but then we had a penalty against us and they marched us down the field and got nine points in front, which with 12 minutes left was probably a bridge too far for us. "We were really pleased with the character. At one stage, I honestly thought that without the character we could have got a good hiding, but the boys stuck in and got a foothold back in the game. "At half-time we talked about playing the last two quarters as two 20-minute games and we knew Gloucester were winning, so we had everything to play for. We were just one try away at one stage. "It is disappointing and when you look over the course of the season, we have let points slip against too many teams below us."
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This is Bath -- Mike Ford says Bath Rugby's coaching staff are enthusiastic about the future of the club despite the Aviva Premiership final-day defeat at Saracens scuppering their bid to play in the Heineken Cup next season. Bath needed to record victory at Allianz Park and hope local rivals Gloucester triumphed at Exeter Chiefs' Sandy Park to climb into the required top-six qualification spot. Gary Gold's side were handed a 23-14 defeat as Saracens topped the Premiership regular season standings, however, while Chiefs shaded a topsy-turvy contest 40-39, meaning Bath finished one place short in seventh. Although Bath missed out on their target of a return to Europe's top-tier competition following a season of Amlin Cup action, first-team coach Ford said the club's youthful recruitment policy points to a bright future at The Rec. "We have set a good foundation. Probably the spectators and the people who are not directly involved can't see that, but we have worked on our culture a lot and put a few things in place that hopefully will bear fruition next year," said Ford. "We're disappointed that we haven't qualified. That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we've not achieved that. "But we think we've recruited well. We've gone for young British talent. They'll bring ambition and the motivation we need to go a step further. "It's not all despondent and we are really pleased with some of the things we've done this year, not necessarily that you can see if you look at scores, but there's been a lot of work gone on behind the scenes." Bath looked set for a tough afternoon at Allianz Park and tries from England winger Chris Ashton and British & Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola put Sarries 13-0 up inside 25 minutes. Rob Webber's touchdown gave Bath a lifeline just before the break, while Owen Farrell's second-half try for Sarries was cancelled out when Horacio Agulla crossed the whitewash. Bath's fightback came too late, however, and the home side were able to see out the contest in the closing stages. "It was Saracens at home with a full side out and we ran them really close. I think we showed a great character to get back to 20-14 down," added Ford. "I thought we had them as they might possibly have made their subs too early - they took some influential players off. "We had a scrum underneath the sticks but then we had a penalty against us and they marched us down the field and got nine points in front, which with 12 minutes left was probably a bridge too far for us. "We were really pleased with the character. At one stage, I honestly thought that without the character we could have got a good hiding, but the boys stuck in and got a foothold back in the game. "At half-time we talked about playing the last two quarters as two 20-minute games and we knew Gloucester were winning, so we had everything to play for. We were just one try away at one stage. "It is disappointing and when you look over the course of the season, we have let points slip against too many teams below us."
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