Bath director of rugby Ian McGeechan is getting ready to prepare his side for 'the toughest of all challenges' when reigning Heineken Cup champions Leinster heading to The Rec.

A first try in his 147th appearance for the club by former England prop David Flatman kept alive Bath's hopes in Pool 3 as they ground out a 16-13 home win over Montpellier, but the next two games will determine whether or not they can go any further in the tournament this season.

"It is the toughest of all home and away matches for us in the next few rounds against Leinster and it is going to be a really good challenge for us," McGeechan told ERC.

"Leinster are used to winning in Europe and they are a side that plans for the Heineken Cup. They won pretty convincingly against Glasgow after their draw in Round 1.

"They haven't won the tournament twice for no reason. We played against them when I was at London Wasps when we knew how to win and they were learning - now the boot is on the other foot."

Leinster lead the Pool by two points from Bath and will be looking to match their 35-23 victory at The Rec in the final round of Pool matches in 2006 when they return on Sunday, 11 December.

By then McGeechan hopes to have resolved his on-going problems at hooker, which were further compounded when Ross Batty was forced off with a bad cut against Montpellier.

But there were a few words of special praise for the 31-year-old Flatman for notching his first points for the club in such a big game. The stalwart front rowers score came at the end of the first quarter after a near end to end move.

"The try came from 80 metres out, although David was only involved in the last metre. Even so, I'm not sure how he got there," said McGeechan.

"But when props score tries you take them any which way they come. Regardless of how close he was to the line, it was an important score for us."