The Premiership is taking a short rest after eight rounds and by Christmas will have reached the halfway stage.
It is a consequence of a 10-team league and the race for the top looks as if it will be closer than last season when Saracens and Sale pulled away.
They were threatening to do so again before Harlequins, who two weeks before had been picked apart by Saracens in front of their own supporters, overwhelmed Sale and Northampton won at Sarries a fortnight after being outmuscled at Leicester. Sale remain at the top but are in the unusual position of looking down on the rest with a negative points difference while Bath are second little more than a year when they were bottom of the table having started the campaign with six defeats.
Bath supporters are daring to dream again after a run of nine victories in the last 12 Premiership matches with eight try bonus points accumulated, but head coach Johann van Graan is focused on improvement. “I believe we are right where we are supposed to be,” he said when asked if Bath were ahead of schedule 18 months after he took over. “This is year two of our train journey.
“The first year was about being pragmatic and tough to beat and the second is about getting better every week. We finished last season very well and have developed our game significantly in the first eight rounds.
“We want to compete in finals but we are honest about where we are. When Bruce Craig (the club's owner) spoke to me originally, I said that if he was looking for a short-term solution I was not his man.
“You have to put things in place and know where you are going. We are not going to stop until we get there.”
Exeter were not among the contenders after losing a number of players who were in their double-winning squad three years ago, but they are among five clubs, including Bath, who won five of their first eight matches.
“There were some skewed results in the early rounds because of the World Cup, but I do not know if we have had a Premiership before when if you are just a little but off your game means you go a long way down on the scoreboard,” said the Chiefs' director of rugby, Rob Baxter.
“It was a one-point game for us at Bath after 60 minutes, but then it got away from us. There is a level of competition now which means you have to be pretty much bang on it every week.”
Bristol and Gloucester went into their match at Ashton Gate last weekend each on a run of five straight defeats. The Bears passed 50 points to end their drought, leaving their neighbours having to calm down anxious supporters with only winless Newcastle below them in the table.
“We are 10 points off the top and the frustrating thing is those points were there for us in games we lost,” said Bristol's director of rugby, Pat Lam. “We have not been out muscled by anyone, we just got some technical stuff wrong.
“The top four is wide open and it is great for fans. We are at Newcastle next, and that is never a game you look forward to. They have been struggling, but a lot of good work is going on there.”
