Bath v Ospreys: Teams

Watson: First appearance

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Bath coach Steve Meehan is calling on his side to put in another strong performance when they entertain the Ospreys.

A youthful Bath line-up gave a good account of themselves against Saracens in the opening match of the LV= Cup.

And Meehan is looking for the squad to build on that display against the injury-hit Ospreys.

"We went out against a very good Saracens side," admitted Meehan. "And we chose to give some players that were coming back from injury, and some of our younger players who have been training very well, the opportunity to play.

"If you took the score line out of it we probably got a lot more out of the game than Saracens did with regards to knowing a bit more about some of our players and where we are as a squad. I am pretty happy with that.

"Scott Hobson was very good, as was Ben Williams and Guy Mercer who came on for the last 25 minutes.

"There was a good return from injury from Daniel Browne who has been out of the game for quite some time now and if he improves with game time, like I expect him to, he will be putting pressure on the back row that is currently in place."

Game time

Academy winger Nick Scott and David Flatman have been called into the squad, while South African Luke Watson will make his debut off the bench.

"Watson will get a decent bit of game time so we can see what he has got to offer," said Meehan.

"What we want to do is improve on the things we have been working on in training and give particularly our young players a good run out, this time in front of their home supporters, and I hope they deliver the same sort of performance as they did last week."

The Ospreys are without a staggering 34 players for the trip to Bath, with injuries and international call-ups decimating the squad.

There will be a debut for trialist James Goode, while James King and Justin Tipuric make their first starts.

There will also be first appearances for the Ospreys for Will Taylor and Hanno Dirksen should they come off the bench.

Bath: 15 Jack Cuthbert, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Tom Cheeseman, 12 Ben Williams, 11 Michael Stephenson, 10 Ryan Davis, 9 Mike Baxter, 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Guy Mercer, 6 Andy Beattie, 5 Peter Short (c), 4 Scott Hobson, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 Nathan Catt.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 David Flatman, 18 Mark Lilley, 19 Daniel Browne, 20 Luke Watson, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Paul Roberts, 23 Nick Scott.

Ospreys: 15 Barry Davies, 14 Nicky Thomas, 13 Sonny Parker, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Ashley Beck, 10 Gareth Owen, 9 Liam Davies, 8 Tom Smith, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Jerry Collins (c), 5 James Goode, 4 James King, 3 Cai Griffiths, 2 Ed Shervington, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Will Taylor, 18 Ross Davies, 19 Richard Kelly, 20 Steve Tandy, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Jarvis, 23 Hanno Dirksen.