Bath’s glorious rugby past is so detached from the present that it feels ancient

Six months ago Bath sent their kids to play a cup match against Gloucester and lost 71-10. On Saturday they went back with their first team, Charlie Ewels, Sam Underhill and Taulupe Faletau in the pack, Ben Spencer and Danny Cipriani, Jonathan Joseph and Joe Cokanasiga in the backs, and lost again, 64-0 this time, with no excuses. It was the latest indignity in a season which has been one long humiliation. They started it by losing 12 games straight, were beaten 71-17 by Saracens, 64-7 by Leinster, 61-19 by Bristol – the sort of scores that make you turn up the radio to check whether you heard them correctly.

Bath still have two games left to play, at home to London Irish and away at Worcester, who are one point above them at the bottom of the table. But whatever happens next, it already feels like the season is long beyond saving. It was finished off by the merry cries of “Eeyore!” coming from the Shed as Gloucester ran in their 10 tries. The highlights were like watching traffic bollards try to defend against the sea.

The talk about what’s gone wrong at Bath has been going around the grounds all year. They even hired the former Saracens CEO, Ed Griffiths, to try to find out for them mid-season. There are theories, like the question about whether they would have played better if the Premiership wasn’t ring-fenced, and they had been threatened with relegation. The answer must be yes, you guess – imagine how that feels to the fans who just have been told to renew their season tickets by the end of this week if they want to take advantage of the early-bird prices.

There’s also a lot of talk about the director of rugby, Stuart Hooper, and whether he was underqualified for the job. There’s talk, too, about their owner, Bruce