Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Bath target another Champions Cup victory
BATH Rugby head across the bridge to South Wales tonight for a short European away day against Cardiff Rugby in the second pool stage game of the 2023/24 Investec Champions Cup.
The joint leaders of the Gallagher Premiership, Bath, got off to a winning start in the Champions Cup with an impressive 37-14 home win over Ulster last weekend.
Meanwhile, United Rugby Championship side Cardiff were thrashed 52-7 at French heavyweights Toulouse and head into tonight’s game at the Arms Park, which kicks off at 8pm and will be shown live on TNT Sport, as significant underdogs.
Bath head coach Johann van Graan has made four changes to his starting XV.
Coming into the starting front row, Thomas du Toit takes the tighthead spot, switching with Will Stuart on the bench.
Du Toit will pack down with last week’s Player of the Match, Beno Obano, and hooker Tom Dunn, who both retain their positions after seeing a 100% scrum success rate against Ulster.
Switching in at second row, Josh McNally partners Charlie Ewels at lock. Across the back row, Miles Reid and Alfie Barbeary are named again, with Chris Cloete returning to the fold to take the openside spot.
At half back, Ben Spencer is paired with Finn Russell, seeing their partnership go from strength to strength in recent weeks.
Will Muir and Joe Cokanasiga will be manning the wings, with Cameron Redpath and Ollie Lawrence taking the midfield. Tom de Glanville also returns to the starting XV, completing van Graan’s set-up.
On the bench, new signing Hame Faiva will get his debut for the Blue, Black and White, with Juan Schoeman taking the final replacement front row position.
Quinn Roux, who suffered a concussion in Bath’s Gallagher Premiership fixture against Saracens in October, will return to the field from the bench, alongside Elliott Stooke who has been impressive since coming back to Bath.
Louis Schreuder and Orlando Bailey are named as this week’s replacement backs, with Jaco Coetzee taking the final bench spot in a 6-2 split.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s clash, Van Graan said: “We are happy with the win [last week] and we’re happy with the bonus point. That was one of our aims to start this competition, to win our home games. We’ve put that behind us now and we’re looking forward to Saturday evening in Cardiff.
“We’re paying absolutely no attention to what happened in Toulouse. It’s the Champions Cup, they’re playing at home. I’ve coached there on a few occasions with a different club. It’s a very tough place to go. They’ve got a good team, well coached and they play very well.”
Van Graan also spoke about the impact of increasingly being favourites going into games. He said: “I wouldn’t use the word pressure. The only expectation we have of ourselves is to get better every week and we believe that in the first nine weeks of the season, if you add the Premiership, we became better and we’re now going to face different opposition with different hurdles.
“You must also remember that for this coaching group and for this group of players, it was our first Champions Cup game together. To get through that in itself was something that we look forward to and this is now our first Champions Cup away game.
“As I say every week, we’re on a journey, there’s absolutely no pressure. We are loving the fact that we are playing in the Champions Cup and what a good day it was on Saturday for the whole club as well as us a group. It was great to see the supporters smile and being proud of their team.
“So far, we have had very good away support and that’s one of the things that’s so brilliant about this competition. How nice was it to have all of the Ulster fans here singing their Ulster men’s song? When travelling to Cardiff, there’s a lot of respect and so for us, it’s about enjoying the journey and hopefully we can be better on Saturday night than we were last weekend. If you look at the past few games that we’ve had and the next few that’s coming up, we prepare as best as we can and then go and play on Saturday evening.”
Cardiff have made five changes. Liam Belcher returns to captain the side, alongside Corey Domachowski to reunite the Rhondda front-row with Keiron Assiratti. Alex Mann also comes back into the starting XV to form a young back-row with Lucas de la Rua and Mackenzie Martin, after Lopeti Timani was ruled out.
In the backline, Rey Lee-Lo comes in for Willis Halaholo, who drops to the bench, while Cam Winnett is back in the number 15 jersey.
Bath Rugby: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Josh McNally, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Miles Reid, 7 Chris Cloete, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville
Gloucester-Hartpury have been given a suspended five-point deduction for having their Premiership Women’s Rugby match with Sale postponed because of absent medical support. The defending league champions’ home fixture on 9 December was called off on the day of the game.
The match has been rearranged for the weekend of 17-18 February.
Gloucester-Hartpury’s deduction will be activated if they breach the same rule before the end of this season.
They sit fourth in the table, having won their two league matches, and travel to Exeter for their next fixture today - while seventh-placed Sale host Loughborough.
Gloucester men’s first XV were in European Challenge Cup action last night, playing host to Top 14 side ASM Clermont Auvergne after the
deadline.