Bath hit out at opportunist agents

Bath have dismissed reports linking Springbok Duane Vermeulen with a post-World Cup switch to England, and criticised agents for repeatedly linking their players to the club.

Head coach Mike Ford claims agents are using Bath’s reputation as an ambitious, well-resourced club to stoke more interest in their players and push up their price.

One report suggested that Stormers No.8 Vermeulen would be offered an annual salary of £450,000 to join Bath. But Ford dismissed out of hand the suggestion that the club was courting the South African IRB Player of the Year nominee, who played in the Boks’ win over England on Saturday.

“It was news to us when it (the Vermeulen deal) was mentioned,” said Ford. “There is no truth in the rumours.

“With where we are as a club, we’re always going to be linked with a star that comes on the market. The agents link them to certain clubs to up the amount.

“It’s frustrating. They do it because they have got some other club involved and they want to scare that other club.

“But there’s nothing we can do about it.”

In recent years, Bath have frequently looked to the Cape Town-based Stormers to bolster their loose forward options.

Former club skipper and flank Luke Watson joined Bath from the franchise in 2009, while Francois Louw – another loose forward – made the same move two years later.

Behind the scenes, consideration was also briefly given to forging an official link between the two clubs, with trans-hemisphere player swaps one avenue that was explored by Bath.

With new arrival Sam Burgess now pencilled in for the loose trio rather than the midfield, Bath boss Ford said he was happy with the size of his current loose forward division, despite a recent attempt to sign Toulon’s Steffon Armitage.

“We’ve got good strength and depth in the back row,” he said.

“My gut feeling with Sam is back row, but we’ll have to see how he plays and figure out what’s best for him.

“In the future he could be playing in the backs but, at the moment, I don’t think so.

“Recruitment never stops. We are still sorting out this year and keeping an eye on next year, and even the year after that.

“We are going to be after those players who are best suited to the way we want to play,” he added.

By Tom Bradshaw