Bath v Worcester: Teams
Bath will finally be able to call on Olly Barkley once again for Saturday's Guinness Premiership clash at The Rec.
Last Updated: 19/02/10 2:04pm
Bath will finally be able to call on Olly Barkley once again for Saturday's Guinness Premiership clash at The Rec.
The 28-year-old centre has not featured for his club since breaking his leg in pre-season training.
Barkley has been named on the replacements' bench for the clash with Worcester and admits he is raring to get back into action after describing his extended spell on the sidelines as "the longest seven months of my career".
"I cannot wait to pull the Bath shirt back on and play alongside my team-mates again - I have waited a long time for this," he stated.
Bath will be hoping to build on last weekend's bonus-point win over London Irish and forwards coach Martin Haag added: "You can't underestimate what winning does. There has been a lot of banter this week and lot of enjoyment, which is great.
"The players have been working very hard and we put some strategies in place that they have really taken on board."
One change for Worcester
Worcester supremo Mike Ruddock has made just one change for the trip to the West Country and that means skipper Pat Sanderson will make his 200th English top-flight appearance on Saturday.
The change sees Tongan hooker Aleki Lutui come into the front row at the expense of Chris Fortey, who drops to the bench.
Both Matt Mullan and Alex Grove return to the match-day squad after being away on international duty.
"We go down to The Rec and focus on playing a Bath side who will be full of energy and are rejuvenated," explained Ruddock. "They had a very good victory at London Irish so they will be ultra confident after that game.
"All we can do is concentrate on our performance and if we perform like we did against Saracens, particularly in attack and our set piece, we will be right in the game. What we have to do is cut out some of the penalties."
Bath: 15. Nick Abendanon, 14. Joe Maddock, 13. Shontayne Hape, 12. Ryan Davis, 11. Matt Banahan, 10. Butch James, 9. Michael Claassens (captain); 1. David Flatman, 2. Lee Mears, 3. Duncan Bell, 4. Stuart Hooper, 5. Peter Short, 6. Ben Skirving, 7. Julian Salvi, 8. Luke Watson
Replacements: 16. Pieter Dixon, 17. David Barnes, 18. David Wilson, 19. Scott Hobson, 20. Jonny Faamatuainu, 21. Mike Baxter, 22. Olly Barkley, 23. Jack Cuthbert
Worcester: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Chris Pennell, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Jonny Arr; 1 Adam Black, 2 Aleki Lutui, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 Greg Rawlinson, 5 Craig Gillies, 6 Tom Wood, 7 Pat Sanderson (Captain), 8 Kai Horstmann
Replacements: 16 Matt Mullan, 17 Chris Fortey, 18 Olivier Sourgens, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Chris Cracknell, 21 Ryan Powell, 22 Matthew Jones, 23 Alex Grove