Reid: We want to build new legacy
Jon Newcombe talks to Bath back rower Miles Reid who wants to see the glory days return, if only to keep his dad quiet
COMBATIVE Bath back rower Miles Reid is hellbent on putting the halcyon days of the 1980s and 90s firmly in the past – if only to keep his old man quiet – by winning major silverware this season. Reid’s dad Mark was a second/ third-string player at the club during their trophy-laden years, which saw 10 Cups and six League titles end up back at The Rec in a 12-year-period between 1984 and 1996.
Becoming the first English winners of the Heineken Cup in 1998 was another golden moment in the rich history of the West Country giants but by then the side’s dominance was already starting to wane as the Leicester and Wasps dynasties took hold, followed later on by Saracens and Exeter.
In the 26 years since, Bath’s only win was the 2008 European Challenge Cup, and the closest they have come to a league title was in 2015 when they reached the final with Sam Burgess in their ranks.
All in all, it adds up to a meagre return for the millions spent by owner Bruce Craig in an attempt to restore the club’s fortunes.
However, this season is bubbling along nicely with the club sat in the top four and through to the last 16 of the Champions Cup, and the hope is that the trophy cabinet will be almost as full to overflowing as the swollen River Avon which runs behind the West Stand of The Rec.
“One of my main motivations to win here is probably to stop people speaking about those days; my dad harks on to me about those days, Robbo (contact coach, Andy Robinson) loves those days, so to create a new legacy is what we want to do as a group here,” says Bath-born Reid.
“I’ve heard all these stories of the glory days, the golden days, so to emulate that would be very special.
“It is such a great city, such a great club, so us as players, we owe that to the people who work at Farleigh House and at The Rec, and of course the people at Bath, to bring some silverware back here.
It is has been far too long and I am very excited to see what this group can do.”
Bath’s renaissance has been quite remarkable under the stewardship of Johann van Graan. The season before the South African took over (2021/22), Bath finished bottom of a 13-team league and would have been relegated had it not been ringfenced in all but name. In Europe, meanwhile, Bath had failed to win a single Champions Cup on Stuart Hooper’s watch.
The nadir, though, was probably reached at the end of April 2022 when Gloucester inflicted a 64-0 defeat on their deadly rivals.
Approaching the two-year anniversary of that meek Kingsholm surrender, Reid says the painful memories of that day are still there.
“I remember that day very well, I don’t want to remember it but I do, it was my 50th cap, unfortunately,” the 25-year-old recalls, squirming in his seat. “It sounds weird in a way to say but I actually think we had to get worse before we got better. We did have some very dark days like the one at Kingsholm, but because of that we have rebuilt and we have rebuilt strongly. I never want to experience days like that again so it has kind of pushed me on and has pushed the other lads on.”
Van Graan came in with a clear strategy of how he was going to get Bath back up off the canvas. From day one he espoused the virtues of becoming a hard team to beat and getting the basics right. Since then, the brilliant addition of attack coach Lee Blackett has added extra layers and nuance to their game with ball in hand, with Finn Russell pulling the strings on the pitch.
Bath carry harder, don’t give a mountain of scrum penalties away, and now know how to convert chances into points.
“With Johann coming in, and the lads that he has brought in, there is a true connection there within the team and there’s also an identity of how Bath Rugby play now,” acknowledges Reid, who has come back into camp refreshed after a mini break in Portugal. “Before, we maybe didn’t have that as much but now we know how to win games and we’ve been able to build up on that.
“Even back in those dark days, I always had that feeling that it would get better at some point, and we’d maybe win trophies. Back then, did I think that would happen this season? Maybe not but I have the strong belief that we have the ability to do so this season.”
With Alfie Barbeary making an impact and Jaco Coetzee also carrying hard, most of Reid’s rugby this season has come on the flanks. His versatility in being able to play six, seven and eight, and also hang out wide and use his pace there if the need arises, has made the Bath academy graduate a very useful member of the squad.
Both club and player were delighted when he agreed to a new contract last month. Several other squad members have followed suit since.
“First and foremost, I am massively proud and I am so happy to be staying here, at my home town club,” says the former Beechen Cliff pupil. “With everyone else that has re-signed, it is great to keep as many players as possible, especially when we have been building like this. Keeping a group that has the skillset to go on and win things and is also very tightly grouped together is really important.”
Now that Reid has committed his future beyond the end of the season, he’ll have the opportunity to reach 100 appearances for the club and, hopefully, in better circumstances than his half-century match. That longevity of service applies to fellow back rowers such as Sam Underhill and Josh Bayliss and Reid says playing together so much almost gives him a telepathic understanding of what the others are going to do.
“Sometimes when you’ve been playing with the same player for a long time you get a sense of what they are going to do in this situation, or what you have to do to support them, or what they are going to do to support you,” he explains. “So it is really important to have those connections, those bonds, that chemistry as such, to keep driving the team and keep picking the team up and each other up.
“I feel like I know what Alfie Barbeary is going to do a lot of the time; Josh Bayliss, 100 per cent, I grew up playing with Josh since I was 16 so I love playing with him, and it is the same again with Sam. I came to this club pretty much the same time as him and everybody knows what Sam is going to do, he’s going to split someone in half.”
While Reid isn’t as destructive a tackler as Underhill (who is?) – he always puts in a solid defensive shift and is an increasing menace over the ball as well as running good lines in attack. Needless to say, he is happy to play wherever selected.
“I wouldn’t call myself a natural 8, if you look at Barbs and Jaco they are big ball carriers and they run through people and that’s probably not my game quite so much,” he says. “But I do have the ability to play there. There has been a lot injuries this season, which has meant I have had to chop and change and fill in there.
“I feel the ability to play all three positions is a strength of mine.”
“Bath’s renaissance under Johann van Graan has been quite remarkable”