Aviva Premiership preview: Bath v Exeter
Last Updated: 27/12/14 1:22pm
Bath welcome West Country rivals Exeter to the Recreation Ground on Saturday with second place in the Premiership on the line.
Bath have won the last four consecutive Aviva Premiership matches, including a 39-16 win over Gloucester last week and find themselves in second place in the standings.
This week Nick Auterac, Rob Webber and Henry Thomas are the starting front row for Bath as they take on Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.
Paul James, Ross Batty and David Wilson, who all started Bath's victory over Gloucester last week will occupy the bench.
Matt Garvey is back at blindside flank, combining with Francois Louw and Leroy Houston to complete the loose trio while Dominic Day pairs up with captain Stuart Hooper in the second row.
George Ford returns at fly-half and the half-back pairing is completed by Chris Cook. Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph link up once again in the Bath midfield with Horacio Agulla taking the No 14 jersey.
Matt Banahan is opposite him on the left wing and Anthony Watson retains his place at full-back.
Chiefs arrive in Bath having lost to Sale last week but with wins over Northampton, Saracens and Wasps in the weeks prior.
Rob Baxter will want his side to get back to winning ways at the Recreation Ground as they aim to steal second place from Bath, which they could do with a bonus-point win.
The Exeter coach has made three changes to the starting team. Jack Yeandle takes over at hooker from Luke Cowan-Dickie and loose forward Don Armand wears the No 7 jersey at the expense of Ben White who drops out of the match-day 23.
In the only change in the backline, Sam Hill pairs up with Henry Slade in the midfield with Ian Whitten joining the bench.
On the bench, prop Tomas Francis and Fetu’u Vainikolo come in for Alex Brown and Adam Hughes.
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Chris Cook, 1 Nick Auterac, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 5 Dominic Day, 6 Matt Garvey, 7 Francois Louw, 8 Leroy Houston.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Paul James, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Sam Burgess, 22 Micky Young, 23 Ollie Devoto.
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley, 1 Ben Moon, 2 Jack Yeandle, 3 Moray Low, 4 Dean Mumm (c), 5 Damian Welch, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Don Armand, 8 Thomas Waldrom.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Haydn Thomas, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Fetu’u Vainikolo.
