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Fans return to Bath for west country derby against Gloucester

By PA
PA

Bath will welcome fans back to the Recreation Ground on Tuesday as they target another major step towards the Gallagher Premiership play-offs.

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Victory over Gloucester would take Bath second in the table behind runaway leaders Exeter.

Their final league game is away to Saracens on Sunday week, with play-off rivals Wasps, Sale Sharks and Bristol all having two matches left.

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The west country derby will see 1,000 fans attend in a third crowd pilot Premiership fixture, after matches at Harlequins and Gloucester earlier this month.

“For us, it is a great opportunity now because we have worked hard and put ourselves in a position for it to be a good opportunity,” Bath rugby director Stuart Hooper said.

“If we had won only two games from the seven (since the Premiership restarted last month) then it wouldn’t be, so it is a real opportunity for us, but it is because we have created it.

“It has been good for the lads to have a good couple of days off before we have regrouped and prepared to get going again.

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“They have been flat out and giving us absolutely everything.”

Bath were beaten 29-15 by Gloucester when the clubs last met eight months ago, but Hooper added: “We have developed a fair bit since then.

“They performed well in that game. Take nothing away from them, they deserved the victory and I think that we were pretty off that day.

“It is a new fixture, it’s another opportunity and we won’t be dwelling on what happened in the past.”

Bath underlined their play-off credentials with an impressive win at Sale last time out.

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Hooper has made four changes from that game, calling up full-back Anthony Watson, wing Semesa Rokoduguni, lock Elliott Stooke and flanker Tom Ellis.

And there is a return on the replacements’ bench for England wing Joe Cokanasiga, who has not played since last autumn’s Rugby World Cup due to a knee injury.

Eighth-placed Gloucester have replaced Danny Cipriani at fly-half with Lloyd Evans, while England scrum-half Willi Heinz makes a return from injury and features for the first time since Premiership rugby resumed on August 14.

Elsewhere, Matt Banahan lines up against his former club, Billy Twelvetrees returns in midfield and lock Matias Alemanno is handed a full debut.

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H
Hellhound 49 minutes ago
Pat Lam blasts 'archaic' process that lost the All Blacks Tony Brown

Now you are just being a woke, jealous fool. With the way things are run in NZ, no wonder he couldn't make a success there. Now that he is out shining any other New Zealanders, including their star players, now he is bitter and resentful and all sorts of hate speeches against him. That is what the fans like you do. Those in NZ who does have enough sense not to let pride cloud their vision, is all saying the same thing. NZ needs TB. Razor was made out to be a rugby coaching God by the fans, so much so that Foz was treated like the worst piece of shitte. Especially after the Twickenham disaster right before the WC. Ad then he nearly won the WC too with 14 players. As a Saffa the way he handled the media and the pressure leading up to the WC, was just extraordinary and I have gained a lot of respect for that man. Now your so called rugby coaching God managed to lose by an even bigger margin, IN NZ. All Razor does is overplay his players and he will never get the best out of those players, and let's face it, the current crop is good enough to be the best. However, they need an coach they can believe in completely. I don't think the players have bought into his coaching gig. TB was lucky to shake the dust of his boots when he left NZ, because only when he did that, did his career go from strength to strength. He got a WC medal to his name. Might get another if the Boks can keep up the good work. New exciting young talent is set to join soon after the WC as dangerous as SFM and Kolbe. Trust me, he doesn't want the AB's job. He is very happy in SA with the Boks. We score, you lose a great coach. We know quality when we see it, we don't chuck it in the bin like NZRU likes to do. Your coaching God is hanging on by a thread to keep his job🤣🤣🤣🤣

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