Inside Johann van Graan's rebuilding process at Bath Rugby

Johann van Graan is less two months into rebuilding Bath Rugby brick by brick, quite literally it seems.

The investigations into Bath leaving their Farleigh House training base died with former chairman Ed Griffiths’ departure on May 25 and the club are staying put in their Hogwartseques home, but with a difference.

Change is well and truly in the air at the Premiership club. Van Graan has ripped up the inadequate script the Blue, Black and White were reading from last season on their way to finishing bottom of the Gallagher Premiership for the first time, and also gave orders to rip up the gym, changing rooms and team conference facilities before he arrived.

The smell of fresh paint sting lingers at Farleigh House with walls and lockers removed to make the gym and changing rooms more communal and the academy players integrated into the first team ranks to help strengthen relationships.

Last season, and for many before that, despite being stars of the team the likes of Orlando Bailey and Max Ojomoh were changing away from the senior players in the ‘academy changing rooms’ at Farleigh - a good two hundred metres away from their senior teammates.

Van Graan, who is striving to remove any cliques or ideas of hierarchy within the team, immediately moved to correct that, with the players now sitting in alphabetical order in the same building having taken away some of the medical room space to expand the now one and only changing room.

READ MORE:

“It is important that everyone is on the same level,” van Graan explained. “We speak in the game a lot about senior players and junior players, senior contract or academy contract, but if you are between the four white lines there is no difference, your age, your contract or where you