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Preview: Bristol v Bath

Friday 05th September 2008

City life: Butch happy to be back in Bath

Having only returned from South Africa on Tuesday, Butch James will slipped straight into Bath's fly-half jersey for their opening derby game against Bristol at the Memorial Stadium.

The Springbok pivot lines up alongside countryman Michael Claaseens once again with Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu and Alex Crockett forming the centre partnership.

And James admits he's glad to be back in Bath for the start of the new campaign with his energy levels and fitness already accustomed to a host of Experimental Law Variations.

"It is good to be back in this beautiful city," he said.

"I am still feeling good and these first two games are really big for us, so I was keen to play against Bristol.

"I am raring to go and really looking forward to Sunday."

Head Coach Steve Meehan echoed James' enthusiasm for the match ahead, having suffered a defeat against Edinburgh last Friday night in the final of Bath Rugby's pre-season friendly matches.

Yet Meehan is confident that the team can rectify their errors against their neighbours on Sunday.

"We did not provide ourselves with quick and clean ball at the ruck against Edinburgh, but everyone is aware what is necessary to win," he said.

"A match against Bristol is always special and I am sure that both teams will come out and deliver something worthy of a Guinness Premiership opening fixture."

"Having a local derby as your first match may focus the mind a little bit more, but only time will really be able to tell that. However, I am sure the supporters are feeling as excited about it as we are."

Meanwhile, hosts Bristol hand prop Mark Irish only his second domestic start after enjoying an impressive preseason.

Irish, who spent all of last season on loan at Newbury Blues, last started a Premiership fixture at Leicester Tigers in the 2005/06 season but was widely acknowledged to be one of the top performing props in National League Division One and started four out of five of Bristol's recent pre-season matches.

Bristol also name three players who will be making their Guinness Premiership debuts for the club in centre Junior Fatialofa, fly-half Adrian Jarvis and lock Robert Sidoli.

And encouraged Head Coach Richard Hill believes his side are fully prepared for what is a tough start against the men from Bath.

"Pre-season has gone really well. Everyone has worked really hard and it's certainly gone better than it did last season when it was well documented that we had a lot of changes on and off the field and were quite disrupted," he said.

"Bath is a great start for us. The crowd should be packed in there to create a great atmosphere which we're looking forward to.

"Traditionally Bath start and finish the season well so we'll need to be on top of our game. They were probably the form side at the end of last season and playing a fantastic brand of rugby.

"We'll have to defend and defend in the opening 20 minutes. They will come out firing on all cylinders and it'll be wave after wave. We need to hold out and not concede."

Form: Bristol have played at home on the opening weekend of the Guinness Premiership for five times in the past six seasons, but unfortunately concluded last season with six successive Premiership defeats. Their visitors lost their last two Premiership matches last season though, at Gloucester and at Wasps, but have not lost three in a row in the competition since April 2007. All in all, Bristol have not beaten Bath since a 16-6 victory at Ashton Gate in December 2006, whilst Bath have not won at Memorial Stadium since March 1998.

The teams:

Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Junior Fatialofa, 12 Kevin Maggs, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Joe El Abd (c), 6 Andrew Blowers, 5 Robert Sidoli, 4 Nathan Budgett, 3 Jason Hobson, 2 Scott Linklater, 1 Mark Irish.
Replacements: 16 David Blaney,17 tbc, 18 Mariano Sambucetti, 19 Redford Pennycook, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Ed Barnes, 22 Greg Barden.

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Jonny Faamatuainu, 7 Michael Lipman (c), 6 Stuart Hooper, 5 Peter Short, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Barnes.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 David Flatman, 19 James Scaysbrook, 20 Scott Bemand, 21 Shaun Berne, 22 Andrew Higgins.

Date: Sunday, September 7
Kick-off: 15:00 (16:00 GMT)
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Paul Dix, Ken Stewart
Assessor: Paul Bridgman
Television match official: Laurie Bryant