2 September 2016

Bath Rugby have named their team to face Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens this Saturday (k.o. 15.30) for the opening match of their Aviva Premiership campaign.

Two international players make their first competitive appearance for the men in Blue, Black and White, with Samoa’s Kahn Fotuali’i and Wales’s Taulupe Faletau both named in the starting line-up.

Scrum-half Fotuali’i, formerly of Northampton Saints, partners fly-half George Ford, with Max Clark and Jonathan Joseph lining up in the midfield. Matt Banahan and Semesa Rokoduguni are named on the wings, with Tom Homer at fullback.

Nathan Catt, Ross Batty and Henry Thomas form a powerful front row, with an equally muscular second row made up of Charlie Ewels and Dave Attwood.

Matt Garvey captains the team from the blindside (having done so in Bath’s last outing, the 19-39 pre-season victory against Leinster), with David Denton wearing the number seven jersey and British and Irish Lion Faletau at eight.

Tickets for Bath's first two home games of the season are now available to purchase.

Bath Rugby team to face Northampton Saints

15 Tom Homer

14 Semesa Rokoduguni

13 Jonathan Joseph

12 Max Clark

11 Matt Banahan

10 George Ford

9 Kahn Fotuali’i

1 Nathan Catt

2 Ross Batty

3 Henry Thomas

4 Charlie Ewels

5 Dave Attwood

6 Matt Garvey (c)

7 David Denton

8 Taulupe Faletau



Replacements



16 Tom Dunn

17 Nick Auterac

18 Kane Palma-Newport

19 David Sisi

20 Tom Ellis

21 Chris Cook

22 Rhys Priestland

23 Jeff Williams