This is Bath -- First-team coach Toby Booth says Bath Rugby are still targeting a return to the Heineken Cup, despite seeing those aspirations suffer a setback on Saturday. Bath were knocked out of the Amlin Cup after falling to a 36-20 quarter-final defeat at home to Stade Francais at the weekend. With the winners of that competition guaranteeing their place in next season's Heineken Cup, Bath must instead rely on their final placing in the Aviva Premiership to return to Europe's top-tier event for 2013-14. Bath currently sit sixth in the table – the final qualification spot – but will play the top three sides, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers and Saracens, in their final three league games and face a tough task to hold onto the place before the end of the season. "Heineken Cup is what everyone aspires to and we've made steady progress," said Booth. "Certainly after Christmas we've improved the way we've been playing and we've been very much more competitive. "In the next three weeks we go up against the three top sides, so we know the mountain that is in front of us and we are excited by that challenge – it can be nothing but that. "We certainly won't underestimate what we've got and how tough it's going to be but the mark of a good group is how it responds after a disappointment and that's something we'll be discussing on Monday." If Bath finish seventh in the Premiership they will need Saracens to lift the Heineken Cup or hope French sides win both continental competitions to book their place amongst Europe's elite for next season.
Reported by This is 6 hours ago.
This is Bath -- First-team coach Toby Booth says Bath Rugby are still targeting a return to the Heineken Cup, despite seeing those aspirations suffer a setback on Saturday. Bath were knocked out of the Amlin Cup after falling to a 36-20 quarter-final defeat at home to Stade Francais at the weekend. With the winners of that competition guaranteeing their place in next season's Heineken Cup, Bath must instead rely on their final placing in the Aviva Premiership to return to Europe's top-tier event for 2013-14. Bath currently sit sixth in the table – the final qualification spot – but will play the top three sides, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers and Saracens, in their final three league games and face a tough task to hold onto the place before the end of the season. "Heineken Cup is what everyone aspires to and we've made steady progress," said Booth. "Certainly after Christmas we've improved the way we've been playing and we've been very much more competitive. "In the next three weeks we go up against the three top sides, so we know the mountain that is in front of us and we are excited by that challenge – it can be nothing but that. "We certainly won't underestimate what we've got and how tough it's going to be but the mark of a good group is how it responds after a disappointment and that's something we'll be discussing on Monday." If Bath finish seventh in the Premiership they will need Saracens to lift the Heineken Cup or hope French sides win both continental competitions to book their place amongst Europe's elite for next season.
Reported by This is 6 hours ago.