'We owe them one': Joe Batley stokes the fire ahead of derby

Portsmouth-born Joe Batley admits that he might not be from Bristol, but he knows exactly what a victory over arch-rivals Bath tomorrow night will mean to the city and Bears fans.

A bonus-point win is non-negotiable if the Bears want to keep their faint play-off hopes alive until the final game of the season against Sale Sharks on Saturday week.

They are also looking to make a statement after the humiliation of their 94-33 defeat at the hands of Northampton Saints last time out, and there will be no better time to do it.

The Bears have only lost one of their 10 games to their rivals, 15 miles down the A4 at Ashton Gate, and it’s a record that the England A lock intends to extend even further.

“Bath week is something that’s hugely important to not only us in the building, but to the city as well. It’s always fantastic that the city gets behind us most weeks, especially this week as the fixture is huge.

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Bristol

11:45

29 May 26

Bath

All Stats and Data

“Some of my memories of Bristol v Bath at Ashton Gate, either being on the pitch or on the sideline, are some of the fondest I’ve had, and I would be lying to say that it doesn’t mean a little bit more.

“The Bristolians George Kloska and Ellis Genge lead the emotional side of it, and everyone else leans on it. I’ve got a Bristolian partner, my two kids, so it means an awful lot to me.

“Despite not being from the city, I know exactly what this game means. If there was nothing on it and it was just a derby, it’d be more than enough; we’ve only focused on Bath, we haven’t spoken about the what-ifs.

“There are too many stipulations to happen for us to even worry about it. And it’s the perfect game for us to have because, emotionally, you have to be right on it, and Gengey (Ellis Genge), for one, won’t let you not be on it,” he said.

Bath have already secured a 40-15 win over the Bears this season, but there are still wounds from last season’s 34-20 Prem semi-final defeat at the Rec that need healing.

“We owe them one for that semi-final; it was heartbreaking, and then early this season away, as I mentioned, the game just got away from us in the end after a good start for ourselves.

“History and results apart, we always owe them one. We always feel like we have to prove ourselves against them. We know that on our day, we can really muck it with the best of them. We’ve not shown that the last couple of games, granted,” adds Batley.

Bristol Bears XV: 15. Noah Heward (42 apps), 14. Louis Rees-Zammit (14 apps), 13. Matias Moroni (14 apps), 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg (72 apps), 11. Kalaveti Ravouvou (54 apps), 10. AJ MacGinty (56 apps), 9. Harry Randall (163 apps); 1. Ellis Genge (77 apps), 2. Harry Thacker (157 apps), 3. George Kloska (84 apps), 4. James Dun (68 apps), 5. Joe Batley (93 apps), 6. Joe Owen (63 apps), 7. Fitz Harding (c) (120 apps), 8. Santiago Grondona (31 apps)
Replacements: 16. Tomas Gwilliam (15 apps), 17. Jake Woolmore (185 apps), 18. Max Lahiff (126 apps), 19. Jimmy Halliwell (25 apps), 20. George Taylor (17 apps), 21. Kieran Marmion (73 apps), 22. Tom Jordan (19 apps), 23. Jack Bates (63 apps)

Bath XV: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Kepueli Tuipulotu, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ethan Staddon, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Sam Underhill, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Ciaran Donoghue, 11 Henry Arundell, 12 Max Ojomoh, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Santi Carreras
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Vilikesa Sela, 19 Ewan Richards, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Alfie Barbeary