Aviva Premiership Match Preview: Bath vs. Gloucester
- By Adam Currie on October 2, 2010 01:00 GMT
Bath host Gloucester this evening in what is proving to be a rather lucrative season for the home side.
Bath have named an unchanged starting XV from last week's win over Sale, as they look to maintain pressure on the top end of the Premiership table.
The only changes will be Tom Biggs replacing Ben Williams on the bench, and prop David Wilson coming in for Mark Lilley.
Gloucester, however is not feeling the same sense of continuity bringing in a new half-back pair, made up of Dave Lewis and Nicky Robinson, following injuries to Rory Lawson and Tim Taylor.
Gloucester skipper Mike Tindall returns to the starting XV for the Cherry and Whites against his former club, and a game he will desperately be looking to win.
Bath, who currently sit third on the log, has had a good start to the season, however struggled and ultimately succumbed to the Northampton Saints two weeks ago.
Having lost out, Bath have responded magnificently by picking up a bonus point win over the Sale Sharks
Bath: Abendanon; Carraro, Hape, Barkley, Banahan; Vesty, Claassens; Barnes, Dixon, Bell, Hooper, Grewcock, Beattie, Moody, Watson (capt).
Gloucester: Sharples; Simpson-Daniel, Tindall (capt), Fuimaono-Sapolu, Vainikolo; Robinson, Lewis; Wood, Azam, Doran-Jones, Hamilton, Brown, Strokosch, Hazell, Deacon.
Bath are heavy favourites in this tussle, with rather convincing odds set at 1.22, to Gloucester’s 4.0
In order for the punters to make any real cash off of this you will have to get more creative with a 9 point handicap to Bath resulting in odds of 1.91- a great bet considering the depth in attack that Bath rugby harbours, coupled with poor defence shown by Gloucester in the past
This game should definitely be worth a watch for you rugby purists out there, however this should be an easy win for Bath, with plenty of tries thrown in for good measure.
