Bath v Gloucester: Teams
Bath are relishing the chance to build on their impressive win over Sale by tackling local rivals Gloucester.
Last Updated: 01/10/10 10:34pm
Bath are relishing the chance to build on their impressive win over Sale by tackling local rivals Gloucester.
Having lost out to Northampton, Bath responded by picking up a bonus point win over the Sharks - and forwards coach Martin Haag is looking for more of the same against Gloucester.
"It's always exciting to be playing Gloucester at home - the first local derby of the season," he said.
"The guys responded very, very well during the week following the Northampton game, applied themselves at the weekend and got a very good result. It was a good score-line at half-time, and perhaps we didn't play as well during the second half, but we got the bonus point at the end through Ben Williams so that was very pleasing.
"From a performance point-of-view, even though Sale had a lot of ball, our defence was good until the last 30 seconds of the game - and some of the areas we had been working on were a lot better.
"We won't be taking Gloucester lightly. Every team has got weaknesses, but it's a case of making sure that our game is good and then exploiting those weaknesses.
Exciting
"Gloucester have had a tough start to the season and we know what that's like, and it makes you even more determined to win the big games, so the important thing for us is to get that win. If you look through their team, they've got some superb individuals. They've also got a good set-piece, so it should be a good, exciting game under the lights at the Rec."
Gloucester welcome back England centre Mike Tindall to the starting XV for the short trip across to The Rec.
Tindall was used off the bench against Wasps but he teams up with fellow former Bath centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu in the midfield.
With Rory Lawson and Tim Taylor ruled out through injury, Dave Lewis and Nicky Robinson come in at half-back.
The only change in the pack sees Alex Brown get the nod ahead of Dave Attwood in the second row.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Matt Carraro, 13 Shontayne Hape, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Luke Watson (c), 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Andy Beattie, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 David Barnes.
Replacements:16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 David Wilson, 19 Ben Skirving, 20 Josh Ovens, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Tom Biggs, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Gloucester: 15 Charlie Sharples, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (c), 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dave Lewis,8 Brett Deacon 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Luke Narraway, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tim Molenaar