Bath v Biarritz: Teams
Bath head coach Steve Meehan believes defence will be the key to toppling beaten Heineken Cup finalists Biarritz at the Rec.
Last Updated: 08/10/10 3:14pm
Bath head coach Steve Meehan believes defence will be the key to toppling beaten Heineken Cup finalists Biarritz at the Rec.
Meehan is expecting the Basque club to try and pin Bath back in the 22, so he has warned his players to start alert and cut out the mistakes.
"Biarritz are a lot more unstructured in their style of play than we are used to, so it will be very important for us to be strong defensively," he told the club's official site.
"We know that they will kick their penalties and their drop-goals from quite deep, so our game coming out of our bottom third is going to be very important.
"They will try to spend a lot of time and energy in the opposition half, kicking long out of their 22 and chasing hard to force you into making mistakes.
"We know we had to improve our organisation and effectiveness when chasing kicks, so we have done a lot of work on that, and now we just need the players to remain calm and to remember the systems that they have gone through in training.
"It is a question of the whole team being absolutely on the ball, and we need to play in an aggressive and committed fashion. If we can get the simple things right, then our chances will come."
Bath will be with England captain Lewis Moody for the clash, so Simon Taylor, Luke Watson and Andy Beattie will team up in the back row.
There will be a familiar face to Bath fans in the Biarritz line-up, with Iain Balshaw named on the wing.
Former Western Force back Dane Haylett-Petty has been handed the No.15 shirt, while Biarritz will look to Dimitri Yachvili and Imanol Harinordoquy to drive them forward.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Matt Carraro, 13 Shontayne Hape, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Luke Watson (capt), 7 Simon Taylor, 6 Andy Beattie, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 David Wilson, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 David Flatman, 18 Duncan Bell, 19 Ignacio Fernandez-Lobbe, 20 Ben Skirving, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Tom Biggs, 23 Jack Cuthber
Biarritz: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Charles Gimenez, 12 Michael Bond, 11 Iain Balshaw, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Erik Lund, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2, Romain Terrain, 1 Eduard Coetzee
Replacements: 16 Benoit August, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Alexandre Barozzi, 19 Pelu Taele, 20 Benoit Guyot, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Arnaud Mignardi, 23 Ilikena Bolakoro