Aviva Premiership
Booth demands improvement from Bath
ESPN Staff
July 12, 2012
Matt Banahan crashes over to score for Bath, Bath v Worcester, Aviva Premiership, The Rec, Bath, England, March 3, 2012
Toby Booth will look to get the best out of players like Matt Banahan who had a poor season last term © Getty Images
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Players/Officials: Toby Booth
Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership
Teams: Bath Rugby | England

New Bath coach Toby Booth insists his side must sharpen up in attack if they are to challenge for honours next season.

Bath finished eighth last term and secured just two four-try bonus points - a far cry from Leicester's league-leading nine. It was a poor return for a side that had finished in the play-offs in three of the previous four seasons under Steve Meehan. With Bath failing to qualify for the Heineken Cup next season and with their only silverware in recent times the European Challenge Cup, Booth has called on his side to develop more of a cutting edge.

"Attack is one of the biggest areas for growth in the club," Booth told the Bath Chronicle. "If we want to be a top-four Premiership side we need to have a top-four attack. The fact is that we don't have one at the moment.

"It's not going to happen overnight because it takes a long time to ingrain things. There will be a few bumps along the road but we will get there. Hopefully, the rugby we play will be entertaining, but the main thing is about winning. We don't want to be pretty losers - we might have to be ugly winners at times."

Booth will work under Gary Gold at the Rec and alongside Neal Hatley, Brad Davis and Mike Ford and the new coaching group have already made a new signing in the guise of Horacio Agulla. Booth has not ruled out other new faces joining Agulla at Bath but admits that recruitment is dependent on the "budgetry constraints we get".

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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