By Glen Leat
March 25 2004

Bath welcome London Irish to the Rec on Saturday for the return leg of this Premiership double header. After the noise and excitement of the St Patrick's Day atmosphere at the Madejski last Sunday it will be a slightly more sedate affair this week in the Georgian City.

This game is something of a rarity as only once before in top division history have the same two teams met in the league two weeks running - in 1995/96 when Wasps and West Hartlepool played in successive weeks on 20th and 27th April 1996. 

On the day that Bath announced the re-signing of former Welsh skipper, Jonathan Humphreys, the Bath forwards will be relishing the prospect of treating the opposition and Bath fans to another display of driving rugby. With the Bath make-shift backs line-up generally struggling for any sort of form it will be once again left to Humphreys and his colleagues to ensure Bath walk away with all the points to maintain a firm grip on their table topping position.

Bath's only loss in their last ten Premiership outings was 6-10 to Wasps at the Rec on 7 February, the only time Bath have been beaten at home in any competition in the past twelve months. London Irish have obtained more league points away from home (22) than they have at home (19) in the Zurich Premiership this season, with Bath the only other side to do likewise, however the Irish have never beaten Bath at the Rec in a top division match.

London Irish make five changes to their starting line-up: Nils Mordt and Nick Greenstock replace Rob Hoadley (head injury) and Geoff Appleford (with England 7's in Hong Kong) respectively. Barry Everitt and Phil Murphy start at fly half and No 8 respectively. Adrian Flavin comes in for Naka Drotske at hooker while at tight head prop Doug Wheatley takes over from Rob Hardwick who faces a late fitness test on Friday.

Recent history suggests this will be another tight affair but I'm confident we'll win again.

 Possible Bath Team
15 Paul Sampson 14 Wylie Human 13 Spencer Davey 12 Andrew Higgins 11 Alex Crockett10 Chris Malone 9 Martin Wood 1 David Flatman 2 Jonathan Humphreys 3 Duncan Bell 4 Steve Borthwick 5 Rob Fidler 6 Andy Beattie 7 Michael Lipman 8 Zak Feaunati

London Irish Team
15. Michael Horak; 14. Paul Sackey; 13. Nick Greenstock; 12. Nils Mordt; 11. Justin Bishop; 10. Barry Everitt;  9. Darren Edwards;  1. Neal
Hatley;  2. Adrian Flavin; 3. Doug Wheatley;  4. Ryan Strudwick (captain); 5. Bob Casey; 6. Declan Danaher;  7. Kieron Dawson;  8. Phil Murphy.
Substitutes: 16. Adam Halsey;  17. Naka Drotske; 18. Kieran Roche; 19.Nick Kennedy; 20. Chris Sheasby;  21. Kevin Barrett; 22. Mark Mapletoft.

Substitutes:
16. Doug Wheatley; 17. Adrian Flavin; 18. Kieran Roche; 19. Nick Kennedy; 20. Phil Murphy; 21. Kevin Barrett; 22. Barry Everitt.

Got your limited edition ERE car sticker? If not click here to find out how to get one.  

Click on to the London Irish site for their perspective on things.

Click here to read about the encounter between Bath and London Irish earlier in the year.

In preparation for this clash let's have a look at a few recent statistics.

Biggest Win

Last Meetings (Bath scores first)