By Glen Leat
January 29 2004

Bath will welcome Beziers to the Rec on Saturday for the second leg of this tight Parker Pen Quarter Final tie and the good news for all will be the return of Mike Catt and Matt Perry following lengthy lay-offs. The Bath backline now looks very strong and should be a potent force.

Despite a Bristol wag leaving a spoof message on this site saying the game is being transferred to Ashton Gate, Bath Rugby club officials have confirmed the game will take place at the Rec. The main worry for the Bath management has to be that a continuing deep frost will make the ground very hard whereas a thaw could see the pitch getting chewed up like a ploughed field: either way the pitch will not make it easy for Bath's strong backline to demonstrate their fleet of foot as they attempt to overturn the five point deficit from the first leg. In perfect conditions the thought of a midfield triangle of Catty, Olly and Andrew Higgins and a back three of Pezza, Balsh and McD is so mouthwatering you almost want to shout "I love you Bath" from a very high building.

 Last week's defeat was only the second this season and the loss was mainly due to a limp first half display by the away side with the French team taking full advantage and pulling away to a lead that Bath had to work very hard to claw back. Coach John Connolly admitted that his team underestimated the opposition and given his keen attitude towards preparation we can be assured that a repeat performance will not be witnessed at the Rec this week.

This is a tough game for all the players, not just because they want to progress to the semi-finals but also because everyone will be aware of the Wasps' match a week later: no one from the Bath camp will want to hand Wasps a psychological advantage of an away win against their greatest rivals.

Bath will win on Saturday, it may not be by many and it many not have to be pretty to watch but rest assured they will win! 

Let's have a look at the recent results of Beziers:

Probable Bath Team

15 Matt Perry, 14 Iain Balshaw, 13 Andrew Higgins, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Mike Catt, 9 Martyn Wood, 1 David Flatman, 2 Jonathan Humphreys, 3 Duncan Bell, 4 Rob Fidler, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Andy Beattie, 7 James Scaysebrook, 8 Zak Feaunati.

Beziers Squad

Tariel Ratianidze, Sébastien Bruno, Pablo Cardinali, Davit Khinchagishili, Jean-François Pedesseau, Mamadou Koita, Steven Hall, Guy Jeannard, Murat Uanbayev, Olivier Llari, Lionel Camisuli, Adrian Alin Petrache, Arnaud Costes, Nicolas Durand, Pierre Henry Broncan, Fédérico Todeschini, Guillaume Delmotte, Olivier Gargallo, Yoan Audrin, Régis Bianco, Philippe Escalle, Christopher Catling

Referee: Giulio de Santis (Italy)

If you can read French why not click here to see the Beziers web site.