Foley's new look at the old traditions

Bath's latest recruit is caught up in a rivalry spanning 100 years and, says Hugh Godwin, he is loving it

A ripe, juicy Anglo-Welsh plum of a tie is in store at The Rec on Saturday and thank goodness Michael Foley, Bath's newly arrived Australian coach, is politically incorrect enough to admit the quarter-final against Llanelli is "not just another game".

With 50 Wallaby Tests and 110 matches for Queensland behind him, Foley, though a recent convert to the tracksuit-and-clipboard brigade, is thoroughly versed in the language of the rugby professional. Yet the talk of "environment" and "process" does not dim his appreciation of what is at stake, over and above the century-old rivalry that helped fuel a rapid sell-out of the 8,200 tickets available.

Llanelli estimate that last weekend's victory over Leicester to qualify in second place from their pool was worth £250,000. Bath placed a value of £1 million on their own Heineken Cup- winning season of 1998. Foley is a mere six weeks into his job as assistant to head coach Jon Callard, and insists that Bath's largely youthful squad must get out of the rut of thinking that winning is everything.

But he qualifies the statement thus: "What I want to encourage, particularly with a side as young as this, is to think about the process and to some extent let the result take care of itself. They want to win games and win championships, and they have to start winning games consistently so that they're in an environment which is conducive to learning."

Rest assured, tradition will be served. The rag doll that was the traditional prize to the fixture's victors has been unearthed, clad in scarlet after Llanelli's victory in 1993 and a 10-10 draw when the teams last met, in the ill-starred Anglo-Welsh Cup three years later.

At around that time Foley was somewhat belatedly making his presence felt for Australia, having left his native Sydney in 1990 to play for Queensland. There he came under the influence of Alec Evans and John Connolly, men who, together with the famously methodical Rod Macqueen and Eddie Jones later in his career, would shape and inspire his desire to follow in their coaching footsteps.

Foley was touring Europe with the Wallabies in November 2000 when Connolly alerted him to a possible role at Bath. The idea went on hold while Foley spent 2001 completing his half-century of caps in Australia's Lion-taming front row. Then Callard made touch again. "I had a chat with Bob Dwyer about the assistant coach's job at New South Wales," said Foley, 34, "but I thought Bath was a good place to come away from what I knew and learn new things."

Bath's patchy domestic form, in contrast to six wins out of six in Europe, added to the challenge as Foley joined Jon Hall and John Moore – respectively responsible for line-out and scrum drills – on the training ground. "It's like the first time you play a Test match," said Foley. "It's a massive step up. You start off inexperienced, and learn along the way."

Anxious not to waste time, Foley studied video tapes of the new charges who were, until his last cap against Wales in November, his playing contemporaries. Danny Grewcock, a feisty opponent for England and the Lions, was the first to offer a hand of greeting.

Foley has quickly identified "a difference in perception of the game" compared with the players at home. "Specifically," he explains, "how they understand their roles within a game-plan. I find the Bath players are generally very dedicated, and very coachable. I'm encouraging them to be more challenging of what is put forward. Thinking about the game, and making a collective effort towards a better result. I don't see coaching as a dictatorship. I see it as a collaborative effort between the players and the management. You can sit with a player 24 hours a day and coach him in all aspects, but when he goes on the field he needs to be able to direct himself, and within the side you need players who can direct other people."

Foley, a seventh-generation Irishman, and instinctively fun-loving, took "three or four years" to knuckle down to what was required to become an international. But by 1999, having gone full-time, he was first-choice hooker in Australia's World Cup final victory in Cardiff.

Now he is engaged in encouraging Bath's chief decision-makers, Dan Lyle – facing an intriguing all-American confrontation with Llanelli's Dave Hodges – and Mike Catt, to think further ahead on the field. Flexibility and recovery sessions, including post-match dashes to the pool, are part of the new regime.

And with the good intentions comes good humour. Callard has gained a useful sounding board but, adds Foley: "It's my duty from time to time this week to remind him he's Welsh."