Bath v Northampton Saints: Big match preview for Friday night's clash at The Rec

Venue: The Recreation Ground, Bath

Date and kick-off time: Friday, September 20, 2024, 7.45pm

Weather forecast: 15c, clear

Live television coverage: TNT Sports 1

Referee: Luke Pearce

Assistant referees: Dan Jones and Jamie Leahy

No.4: Jonathan Healy

TMO: Tom Foley

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Butt, Muir; Russell; Spencer (c); Obano, Dunn, Stuart; Roux, Ewels; Hill, Reid, Barbeary.

Replacements: Annett, van Wyk, Griffin, du Plessis, Pepper, Schreuder, Bailey, Coetzee.

Saints: Furbank (c); Ramm, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Sleightholme; F Smith, James; Iyogun, C Langdon, Davison; Scott-Young, Munga; Kemeny, Pearson, Graham.

Replacements: R Smith, West, Green, Hunter-Hill, Augustus, McParland, Thame, Freeman.

Not considered for Saints selection: Temo Mayananvanua (international duty), Emeka Atuanya, George Hendy, Tom Litchfield, Tom Lockett, Alex Mitchell, Burger Odendaal.

Most recent meeting: Saturday, June 8, 2024: Saints 25 Bath 21 (Gallagher Premiership final)

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan: “We were very happy with our journey last season. We’ve got to start again and work hard because we know it takes so much to get into that final. We spoke about being more clinical last season, which we were, and we wanted to become a team that was consistent, and in 17 of the 18 (Premiership) rounds we got league points. Everyone gave it their best shot in the final. We walked out of Twickenham with our heads high. You finish something, and then you start something new. I am really looking forward to it."

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: “Bath have clearly got a very good squad. We know what happened at the end of last season so they will be desperate to go one better and kick their campaign off properly. We're looking forward to what is a big challenge. I've watched some of Bath’s pre-season games and there's a couple of nuances that are different that we're looking at, but we'll see a full-bodied encounter, it will be hugely physical and it should be a good atmosphere."

Opposition dangerman: Bath possess so many threats it’s hard to pick just one, but their half-backs are key in pulling the strings and scrum-half Ben Spencer always has a good game against Saints so he just gets this ahead of fly-half Finn Russell, who is clearly capable of magic at any time.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: Season openers don’t come much tougher than this as Saints travel to a side who will be desperate to claim revenge after losing narrowly to the black, green and gold in the previous campaign’s Gallagher Premiership final. Bath are being heavily tipped to go one step further and win the league this time round as they have managed to keep the majority of their squad together while adding to it. They are always tough to beat at The Rec so the size of Saints’ task is clear. Phil Dowson’s men possess plenty of quality of their own, but they have had some key injury issues to deal with and home advantage could swing this in favour of Johann van Graan’s side. Bath 22 Saints 17.