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Bath are not letting pressure to win a trophy affect them as they go into the new Premiership campaign, says head of rugby Johann van Graan. <\/b><\/p>\n
The club finished runners-up to Northampton in last season’s final at Twickenham<\/a> in a rollercoaster match that saw them come from behind with 14 men to almost clinch victory in the final play of the game. <\/p>\n The club have not won a league trophy since 1996 and begin the new season with a reunion against Saints at the Recreation Ground on Friday. <\/p>\n “Obviously we want to win a trophy. We’ve never said that we don’t want to. But we are not in the [business of] predicting when this will happen,” Van Graan told BBC Radio Somerset.<\/p>\n “Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later and us as a group have tasted it – we were literally one play away from winning it and there’s no guarantee you’ll get back there again.”<\/p>\n The 2024-25 campaign is Van Graan’s third at the helm with the club progressing rapidly since he took over. <\/p>\n Most of the squad from last season has been retained and the South African hopes the continuity across the staff and playing squad continues the upward trajectory this season. <\/p>\n Lock Ross Molony<\/a> and back row Guy Pepper<\/a> are among just four new arrivals. <\/p>\n “In terms of pressure, Bath haven’t won a trophy for a very long time. The only pressure we have is the pressure that we have internally – we want to be part of something special,” added Van Graan.<\/p>\n “But what sport teaches you is if you win a game it doesn’t mean that you’re successful, and if you lose a game it doesn’t mean you’re unsuccessful.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n