Opposition view: Bath boss feels physicality was so key against Saints

The home side scored five tries at The Rec as they beat the team who defeated them in last season's Gallagher Premiership final.

It was an impressive opening-night success for Bath, but Saints were left to rue some costly lapses in concentration and discipline.

Two Fin Smith penalties during a dominant start to the second half had pulled Phil Dowson's men back to just five points behind.

But a sucker-punch score from Ollie Lawrence a minute later burst the black, green and gold balloon before Bath went on to rub salt into the wounds late on.

And van Graan said: “Something we learned from the last game against Northampton was that if you put them under pressure physically, it's pretty difficult for them to play.

“I thought we got that right in the first 20, they were on top in minutes 40 to 60 but in the last 20 minutes our (Lawrence) try was a good example that they tried to play out of their half and we dominated the contact.

“That was our fourth try and from there, we got some good momentum.”

Bath have been heavily tipped to go one step further and win the Premiership title this season.

But van Graan paid little attention to that, or suggestions that his side were out to avenge their final defeat to Saints in June.

“Every game matters,” he said.

“You can't go away from the fact that Northampton is a very good side and we lost to them in the final, but from our side we didn't mention the word final once this week.

“We spoke against the previous game we played against them and we've become a lot better at shutting down outside noise.

“The Premiership is a great place, a lot of people have said a lot of nice things on the outside but for us, it's process driven and we knew we needed to play well.

“I thought first 20 minutes it was very interesting, the way the game developed.

“There was a big moment for us before half-time when we kept them out and we selected a lot of power on the bench, which did a lot of damage in the last 20 minutes.”

Fly-half Finn Russell was once again key for Bath as he stuck the boot into Saints.

“One of the biggest things he (Russell) brought last season was that when something bad happens, you put it behind you,” van Graan said.

“He's made a big difference in our team but I've got to praise our leadership group because we've become calm under pressure.

“Ben (Spencer) has led really well, Charlie (Ewels), Ollie (Lawrence) has taken the role as our defensive captain.

“As a coaching group and playing group, it's the first time in 14 years that Bath have got some continuity and hopefully we can be better this season.”