Bath boss van Graan shrugs off 'outside world' expectation ahead of Saints clash

Van Graan's side are being tipped by many to go one step further than last season, when they lost to Saints in the Premiership showpiece.

Many pundits fancy Bath to pick up the trophy this time round as they have retained many of the men that took them so far during the previous campaign while adding a couple more key pieces.

But van Graan said: "For us, there is now an expectation from the outside world, but from the inside we expect the exact same things. We want to become better and focus on continuous improvement.

"We are not the perfect team, we believe there is a lot more in us.

"We understand that you have to improve at a faster rate than your opposition.

"The margins are so small.

“We were very happy with our journey last season.

"We’ve got to start again and work hard because we know it takes so much to get into that final.

“We spoke about being more clinical last season, which we were, and we wanted to become a team that was consistent, and in 17 of the 18 (Premiership) rounds we got league points.

“Everyone gave it their best shot in the final. We walked out of Twickenham with our heads high.

"We loved the journey.”

When it comes to facing Saints again, van Graan said: “You finish something, and then you start something new. I am really looking forward to it."

Bath will have prop Beno Obano available after he completed the suspension picked up for a high tackle on Juarno Augustus in the 22nd minute against Saints in June's Premiership final.

Obano was unable to play in any of Bath's pre-season games due to the ban.

But van Graan said: "He is available for selection this week. He is looking in very good shape so, yeah, if selected, he is available.

“He is in a very good space mentally. He went through the hearing process and put his case forward and yeah, he has been exemplary in how he has handled the whole situation.

“I would say the same as I said after the final: the decision was made, (referee) Christophe (Ridley) had no choice. We have got no issues with that, and he (Obano) has worked really hard in what he needs to improve in.

“He is such an important player for us and we certainly circled around him, as did the whole club, and that’s long in the past now so we haven’t really touched on that again.

"He is in a very good place mentally and physically.”

Luke Pearce is set to be the referee on Friday night, while both teams could see several changes from the Premiership final a few months ago.

Saints have several injury issues to deal with, while Bath are trying to solve a centre conundrum.

Max Ojomoh and Cameron Redpath have both been ruled out for the start of the season.

And after last weekend's 26-3 win against Dragons, van Graan said: "Max will be out for some time with his foot injury. We're waiting for the last bit of info, but he won't be back soon.

"Cam is still a few weeks away, so I've got to make a decision of whether I play Will Butt at 12, Orlando (Bailey) at 12, or do I move Ollie (Lawrence) in from 13 to 12 and potentially play Louie Hennessey at 13. Amongst those combinations, we'll pick across the next few weeks."