Bath went into the new year in second place in the Premiership having established themselves as firm title contenders but their opening match in 2015 takes them to an area of England where they have an appalling league record.
Bath have won 78 matches on the road since the Premiership started in 1997-98 but only two of them have come in the east Midlands – at Northampton in 2000 and at Leicester three years later. Waiting for them at Welford Road on Sunday will be a side intent on revenge after suffering a record 45-0 defeat at the Recreation Ground in September.
“The rivalry between the two clubs goes back to the amateur era and it’s fierce,” said the Bath coach, Mike Ford. “Leicester have a squad that has internationals and Lions across the park and they have a few points to prove. The atmosphere at the ground will be passionate and it is going to be like a Test match.”
Bath drew at Welford Road a year ago this weekend, denied their second victory at the ground by a late Jamie Gibson try, and they have won their last five matches in the Premiership since losing by two points at Wasps 12 weeks ago. Leicester have drawn one and lost one of their five home league matches and go into the match out of the top four and 11 points behind Bath.
““If we can match and better Leicester’s physicality, we’ve got the footballing skills to beat them,” Ford said. “The collisions will be brutal, rucks will be hit ferociously and there will be no space. We have the players at forward who know what is needed in a Test match atmosphere and I am excited at the prospect of how we go. Leicester are still a very good, proud side, and the next step for us is to go into that hostile environment knowing what happened in September and seeing whether we can handle it.”
Bath’s rugby league recruit, Sam Burgess, will start his first match in the Premiership, partnering Kyle Eastmond at No13 in what will be his third position since making his debut off the bench at the end of November. He wore the 12 jersey against Montpellier in the Champions Cup last month and has been used at blindside wing forward in the A league.
He will not be up against Manu Tuilagi with the England centre due back from a groin injury in the middle of the month but Leicester have picked the Fijian Vereniki Goneva, last season’s leading try scorer in the Premiership, at outside-centre. The Tigers will miss not only Tuilagi but the England tighthead Dan Cole: such is Bath’s front-row strength in depth that they will be able to sustain their challenge up front throughout.
“What has impressed me the most this season is the way we have improved as a team,” said the Bath captain, Stuart Hooper. “Every single player in the squad is on the same page and a good indicator of that was in the autumn when we had nine guys away on international duty. We are training harder and smarter this season with the players solving problems on the pitch rather than doing as we are told. There is a real belief among us that we can achieve something good.”
