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Search forBath name team for Tigers showdown
Friday, November 14, 2008, 13:46
The leaders play their first league fixture since they hit top spot back on October 1 when old rivals Leicester Tigers visit The Rec (1pm).
The Tigers are second in the table and, like Bath, have four wins and a defeat to their name in their five Premiership games so far.
Danny Grewcock makes his first Premiership start of the season alongside Justin Harrison in the second row, while Scott Bemand lines up at scrum-half with regular number nine Michael Claassens ruled out by a knee injury.
Bath are without all four of their England Elite Squad members, with Matt Stevens, Lee Mears and team captain Michael Lipman all on international duty for the visit of Australia to Twickenham tomorrow and Nick Abendanon (toe) injured.
Ahead of his side’s first game for a fortnight, Meehan said: “The guys have come back full of beans this week, they are over their knocks and bruises, mentally they are fresh and this is a tremendous way to come back and re-start our Guinness Premiership campaign.
“I would like to think we are playing some decent rugby at the moment.
“Leicester are in their third season in a row with a new head coach, but you can see that they still haven’t quite settled.
“But they have such quality that they have won four out of their five Guinness Premiership games, so they are a real threat and we are going to have to work very hard to win.”
England trio George Chuter, Jordan Crane and Dan Hipkiss have been included in the Leicester team.
Chuter teams up in the front row with Boris Stankovich and Dan Cole, while Crane returns at No 8. He is joined in the back row by Lewis Moody, who will make his first Premiership start of the season at openside flanker following his return from injury, and ex-England skipper Martin Corry, who captains the side from the blindside.
Julien Dupuy and Derick Hougaard team up at half-back, while Aaron Mauger partners Hipkiss in the centre.
Tigers head coach Heyneke Meyer has named Geordan Murphy at full-back after he returned from international duty with Ireland.
Meyer said: “It’s very tough, especially playing away, but we have a good record away from home.
“It’s a tough part of the season, a very important part because we have players away, and most other clubs do as well.
“It should be a huge challenge but I am positive and think the guys will live up to it.”
Bath Rugby: 15 Joe Maddock, 14 Andrew Higgins, 13 Alex Crockett (capt), 12 Shaun Berne, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Scott Bemand, 1 David Barnes, 2 Pieter Dixon, 3 Duncan Bell, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Peter Short
7 Jonny Faamatuainu, 8 Daniel Browne.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Aaron Jarvis, 18 Stuart Hooper, 19 James Scaysbrook, 20 Mike Baxter, 21 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 22 Jack Cuthbert.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Julien Dupuy, 1 Boris Stankovich, 2 George Chuter, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Richard Blaze, 5 Marco Wentzel, 6 Martin Corry (capt), 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Jordan Crane.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Santiago Bonorino, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Tom Varndell, 22 Craig Newby.
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