It is four years since Bath defeated Northampton in the Premiership and after losing three of their first five matches this campaign, last season’s beaten finalists need to end the Saints’ hold over them at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
Northampton, who have also lost three games this season, are unbeaten in their last eight Premiership matches against Bath, and beat them in the final of the 2014 European Challenge Cup, but they have not won away in the league since visiting the Rec last February and are without a number of their England forwards.
“It is a must-win game for us,” said Rob Webber, Bath’s England hooker. “We pride ourselves on putting in a good performance in front of our own supporters and you can only be excited about the prospect of playing one of the Premiership’s top clubs, but there is a bit of pressure on us.
“Northampton have been at the top for a good few years now and that is what we want to achieve. They are well coached, big and physical with a number of threats across the pitch. It is a chance for us to put a marker down and we have put a lot of emphasis into our set-pieces and we know we will be severely tested in that area. The scrum will have even more edge than normal and we have worked hard on the mental side of scrummaging under Neal Hatley.”
The England centre Jonathan Joseph returns to the side a month ahead of schedule having had surgery on a chest injury and Dave Attwood is back in the second row after missing last Sunday’s defeat at Welford Road. “It was bitterly disappointing to come away from Leicester with nothing, but a positive was that we created a number of juicy opportunities,” said the Bath head coach, Mike Ford. “Northampton are similar to Leicester: you have to match them in the set-pieces and the breakdown to have a chance of beating them.”
The Saints are without forwards Dylan Hartley, Alex Corbisiero, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood and Calum Clark, while their first-choice half-backs, Lee Dickson and Stephen Myler, will be on the bench. Their experience will be utilised in the second half and it means a first Premiership start for the fly-half JJ Hanrahan, a summer recruit from Munster.
“One of the reasons I joined Northampton was the knowledge that I would be playing behind forwards who would provide front-foot ball,” said Hanrahan. “Munster have been on the receiving end of our pack over the years and everything has been as I expected. Bath is an important game for us with both clubs looking to get on a roll. We know it is going to be tough.”
The England captain, Chris Robshaw, stays at blindside flanker for Harlequins in Saturday’s home match against London Irish. Luke Wallace replaces Dave Ward, who resumes in his specialist position at hooker, at openside while the Wales and Lions prop Adam Jones returns at tighthead.
The Wasps captain, James Haskell, misses Saturday evening’s clash against Exeter at the Ricoh Arena with a shoulder injury. He is replaced by Sam Jones, who will make his 100th appearance for the club, and George Smith returns to the openside after being rested last weekend. Exeter include the Wales tighthead prop Tomas Francis, who has recovered from a bout of mumps, and the England second row Geoff Parling makes his first start for the Chiefs.
The Wales outside-half Dan Biggar has signed a new dual contract to keep him in the country, the first of the 17 players who have signed up to the deal between the national side and the regions to do so, but Saracens are interested in tempting his half-back partner at Ospreys, Rhys Webb, to move to England and replace Neil de Kock, who is retiring at the end of the season. Webb has not played since suffering an ankle injury before the World Cup but is expected to be back within three months.
