By Glen Leat
November 22 2002

Hooray we're on a roll with two victories under our belt and just as we have to face Bristol for the first time this season! A couple of weeks ago many of us may have been planning for the ignominy of a loss to Bristol but now we can look forward to victory against our nearest neighbours!

Bath's home record may not be brilliant this year but it is certainly better than Bristol's away record as they search for their first away win. Mind you in drawing last week Bristol became the first team in the history of the Zurich Premiership to emerge from a match with three points, as hooker Saul Nelson grabbed a bonus point when he scored their fourth try in injury time to level the scores at 32-32.

"But despite Bristol's very poor start to this season Michael Foley is taking them seriously (well someone must I suppose) when he told the club site,‘Bristol have been scoring an awful lot of tries. They have a superb squad – very fast, powerful backs, and an enormous forward pack. It’s a huge game for us in terms of the threat they provide. But our defence has been generally sound and against Newcastle it was excellent.’

Matt Perry and Olly Barkley are both included in the squad after recovering from their injuries but Mike Catt will again fail to beat his nagging injury crisis after leaving the field against Newcastle last week. Once again Chris Malone is likely to start at Number 10. Like last week Danny Grewcock may play some part in this match even though he is with England on Saturday.

These are always passionate affairs, as can be seen on the Bath and Bristol Messageboards, and supporters from both clubs will dine out on the victory until the next match; well I've got my knife and fork ready for a right slap-up meal! Bath to win by 10 points.

Bath Squad To Face Bristol

Backs: Matt Perry, Rob Thirlby, Simon Danielli, Tom Voyce, Olly Barkley, Alex Crockett, Spencer Davey, Mike Tindall, Chris Malone, Andy Williams, Ross Blake

Forwards: Dave Barnes, John Mallett, Alessio Galasso, Jonathan Humphreys, Lee Mears, Steve Borthwick, Dan Lyle, Jonathan Pendlebury, James Scaysbrook, Andy Beattie, Nathan Thomas, Andy Lloyd, Danny Grewcock

Click on to the Bristol site for their perspective on things.

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

Biggest Win

Player Greats

Last Meetings (Bath scores first)