Fly-Half Rhys Priestland and Bath Rugby Make Big Mistake in Move

Rhys Priestland, the Welsh international fly-half, confirmed his move to Bath Rugby from the Scarlets on Tuesday.

Priestland will join up with the club after the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. But from both Bath’s point of view and Rhys Priestland’s, the move will prove to be a big mistake.

Bath already have a very good fly-half in George Ford who, at 22, is five years younger than Priestland and already a better player. In addition, Ford’s creativity and distribution make him a better fit for Bath’s expansive style of play than Priestland, who is a more conservative No. 10.

Ford has also been one of the reasons that Bath have improved so much in the past two years. As such, there was no need to sign Priestland. While it can be argued that adding another good player to the squad is reason enough, it could impact Bath’s fluidity in attack.

Neither would it be wise for Bath to rotate Ford and Priestland, as is sometimes the case with scrum-halves (Kahn Fotuali’i and Lee Dickson, for example, at Northampton).

The fly-half is the general and needs to provide the direction for the back line, arguably the whole team. Consistency at 10 is needed to allow the backs to flourish and for the team to settle on a game plan. Bath won’t succeed if they chop and change between Ford and Priestland.

If Bath wanted another fly-half to cover for Ford while he is away with England during the first half of the 2015-16 season because of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and future international fixtures, they should have opted for a 10 who would have been available to begin in September and who is not on his national team’s radar.

Rhys Priestland has fallen out of favour with Wales coach Warren Gatland and a section of the fans took to booing him in the Autumn Internationals.

It is understandable that he might want to leave Wales for rugby reasons, but moving to Bath is a big mistake for him. Priestland, we assume, wants to play for Wales after the World Cup but is moving to a club where he will likely be second choice and where his rival for the 10 jersey is the head coach’s son.

As former Bath player Jeremy Guscott commented on BBC Sport: "If I was a player of his calibre, Bath would not be the club I would join."

But if Priestland’s form is good enough (as Bath no doubt hope) for him to be in Wales’ squad beyond 2015, Bath will be faced with both their fly-halves being absent at the same time due to international commitments.

The one shining light for Bath (but not for Priestland) is that, under changes announced in August, by leaving Wales, Priestland would have to be deemed an exceptional circumstance by Warren Gatland in order to be picked for Wales.

However, the times when Bath really need to be at full strength—fixtures in the European Cup and the Premiership play-offs—they will be able to call on Ford.

Trophies are not won in the international window. If they wanted cover for Ford, it would make much more sense for Bath to sign an experienced fly-half no longer in the frame for international selection.

Bath also need to be wary of breaching financial fair play. Given the stringent salary cap in English club rugby, and the lucrative £500,000 deal reportedly given to rugby league convert Sam Burgess as per the Daily Telegraph, signing Priestland may detrimentally affect who Bath will be able to recruit in the future.

Bath, what is more, could have spent the money better on a position that they needed to strengthen. Their backs have great chemistry and their tight-five is powerful.

What they lack is back-row support for South African Francois Louw. Their proposed moved for Toulon’s Steffon Armitage, which fell through for financial reasons, would have been perfect.

Bath and Rhys Priestland have both made a big mistake.