By Glen Leat
April 15 2004

After the heartstopper against Montferrand last week Bath have another difficult match at Northampton this Sunday. It was April 2000 when Bath last won at The Gardens and this game will not be easy as a fired up Saints team aim to fend of Glawster for the third play-off spot.

Northampton are currently on a good streak, with only a defeat in their last game against in-form Wasps ending a five match winning run
in the Zurich Premiership. Northampton have lost just one of their last 13 Premiership games at Franklin's Gardens stretching back to January
2003, that was 24-30 to London Irish on 11 October, so this will be a very tough challenge for John Connolly and his charges. However Bath are the Premiership's best travellers having secured 35 league points from their nine away games so far.

The two sides have already met twice at The Rec this season with Bath being victorious on both occasions - 24-6 in the Premiership in September and 42-13 in the 6th round of the cup in November.

Mike Catt's body appears to have succumbed to injury once again and Bath could have done with his flashes of genius to try and unlock the Saints' defence and there must be some worry that this will be too tough a comeback for Robbie Fleck, particularly as it looks as though he will have Maggs rather than Tindall or Higgins alongside him. Matt Perry will look to carry on where he left off last week and hopefully Alex Crockett has been working on his defensive positioning so he's not caught out again as he was by the French attackers last week.

This game will be as tough as any Bath have faced all season: my heart (obviously) says a narrow Bath victory but my head tells me that Northampton will expose our over reliance on a brilliant pack and nick the game by less than five points.

Finally, it is worth noting that if Bath gain a five point win and Wasps lose at Leeds with no points, then Bath cannot be caught and will progress direct to the Zurich Premiership final at Twickenham.

Possible Bath Team
15 Matt Perry 14 Wylie Human 13 Kevin Maggs 12 Robbie Fleck 11 Alex Crockett 10 Olly Barkley 9 Martin Wood 1 David Flatman 2 Jonathan Humphreys 3 Duncan Bell 4 Steve Borthwick 5 Danny Grewcock 6 Andy Beattie 7 Michael Lipman 8 Zak Feaunati

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Click here to read about the away encounter between Bath and Northampton earlier this season..

Click here to see the latest league table.

Click on to the Northampton Saints site for their perspective on things.

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

Biggest Win

Last Meetings (Bath scores first)