Heineken Cup 'final' for Ulster
Bath have named a strong lineup for Saturday’s Heineken Cup Cup clash with Ulster – reaffirming their determination not to finish their European campaign without a win.
Head Coach Steve Meehan has included international stars Lee Mears, Danny Grewcock, Luke Watson and Michael Claassens.
Ulster meanwhile have made just one change to their line-up with Niall O’Connor preferred to Ian Humphreys at number ten for a must-win game.
The Ravenhill outfit require maximum points at the Recreation Ground and will be hoping for favourable results elsewhere if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals.
“Bath are going to be a hard team to beat, it’s their home ground. They’re going to be very physical up front, so we’re going to need to be solid at set piece time to get some good quality ball, in order to put them under pressure defensively. We’ve got to go in with the attitude that we’ve got to win the game first, and then go for the bonus point,” said Assistant Coach Neil Doak.
Captain Chris Henry too expects it to be an exciting clash with the visitors treating it like a final.
“This game is like a cup final; it is literally win or bust,” he said.
“We have to go to Bath with confidence because we know from some of our performances and results this season, we need not fear anyone.”
The teams:
Bath: 15 Joe Maddock, 14 Michael Stephenson, 13 Matt Carraro, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Nicky Little, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Luke Watson, 7 Jules Salvi, 6 Andrew Beattie, 5 Stuart Hooper, 4 Danny Grewcock, 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 David Barnes, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Peter Short, 20 Jonny Fa’amatuainu, 21 Scott Bemand, 22 Ryan Davis, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Ulster: 15 Jamie Smith, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Niall O’Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Chris Henry (capt), 7 David Pollock, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Ed O’Donoghue, 4 Dan Tuohy, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Ryan Caldwell, 20 TJ Anderson, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Timoci Nagusa.
Date: Saturday, January 23
Time: 15:45 (15:45 GMT)
Venue: Recreation Ground
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert (France), Jerome Lamirand (France)
TMO: Daniel Gillet (France)
