Bath Assistant Coach Robinson Praises Ewan Richards’ Game Development

Bath lock Ewan Richards, an academy graduate, is developing “everything” in his game, according to assistant coach Andy Robinson. This statement followed Richards’ captaincy of the team to a cup victory on Saturday, marking his second Premiership Rugby Cup win leading the side. The 22-year-old led a youthful Bath team to a decisive 78-19 Premiership Rugby Cup triumph, scoring 12 tries, over local rivals Bristol Bears at the Recreation Ground. Richards, a product of the Bath academy system, has appeared once in the Premiership this season, coming on as a replacement. Robinson, who is overseeing the team for the cup competition, conveyed to BBC Radio Bristol: “Every time you perform like that you’re putting yourself in the discussion with all the coaches.” He added, “What a game that he had as captain. The way that he’s growing as a player – carrying hard, being very good in the line-out, everything about his game is growing – delighted for him.” Bath has secured the maximum possible points from their initial two group matches in the tournament, positioning them at the top of Pool D and as frontrunners to advance to the knock-out rounds. Richards has accumulated 35 appearances for Bath throughout his career, though the majority have been from the bench in recent seasons, and he spent a portion of the previous season on loan with Championship club Cambridge. Richards stated his intention to continue “working hard” to earn a spot in the Premiership matchday 23. He commented, “We’ve got some quality players at the club and my job is trying to keep working hard and pushing them out of the team,” adding, “That’s where I want to play. these opportunities are giving that to me and I’m loving my rugby at the minute.” However, Bath will be without teenage prop Billy Sela for a period of up to two months, following a shoulder injury sustained during the second half of the match. Sela, aged 19, had made his initial Premiership appearances for the club this season and had also received a call-up to the 24-player England A squad for their upcoming fixture against Australia A this Sunday. Regarding Sela’s injury, Robinson remarked, “You always got to look with shoulders, take a bit of time, see where it is. Billy’s got so much credit over the last year from how he’s growing, we’ll wait and see what the issue is. We’re lucky that we’ve got three, four tightheads of real quality.” He concluded, “We’ll see what it is and hopefully he’ll get whatever’s needed for that shoulder and will be back in a month to two months.”