Bath time for Montpellier

Published: Friday, 18. November, 2011 in category Top 14

Bath will be determined to get their Heineken Cup campaign back on track after their last ditch defeat to Glasgow in their Pool 3 opener in north of the border last weekend.

The 1998 champions will welcome last season's Top 14 finalists Montpellier, who were held to a 16-16 draw in their Pool opener by reigning champions Leinster, to the Recreation Ground on Sunday.

Bath are bottom of the Pool after the 26-21 defeat to Glasgow and know they have to beat their French visitors to keep their hopes of a place in the knockout stages of the tournament alive.

The Premiership side have a mixed recent record at home in Europe but have won 11 of their 18 games against French opposition. Montpellier have played Bath twice in Europe and lost both games but this will be their first Heineken Cup game away from home.

The French side, who were the talk of last season's Top 14 in France, are in their first season of Heineken Cup rugby but will be still wondering how they threw away a home victory against the reigning champions last weekend.

The teams:

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Sam Vesty, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 David Wilson, 2 Ross Batty, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Mark Lilley, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Olly Barkley, 23 Jack Cuthbert.

Montpellier: 15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Martin Bustos Moyano, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 J-B Peyras Loustalet, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Mamuka Gorgodze, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Rémy Martin, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Joe Tuineau, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements: 16 Rassie van vuuren, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 George Jgenti, 19 Drickus Hancke, 20 Masi Matadigo, 21 Benoit Paillaugue, 22 Santiago Fernandez, 23 Yoan Audrin.

Date: Sunday, November 20
Kick-off: 15:00; 15.00 GMT
Venue: The Rec
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)