Ojomoh starts as Bath and Wasps face off in crucial game

Max Ojomoh starts for Bath against Wasps on Friday night in a game that both sides will see as an absolute must-win, if their ambitions of grabbing a place in the top eight are likely to come to fruition.

Both opened the campaign with narrow, agonising defeats, and failed to put things right in round two as Wasps were beaten 23-8 on home soil by Bristol Bears, and Bath outplayed by a 14-man Sale Sharks team.

𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈'𝙎 𝙐𝙋! 💥@tomdunn92 will captain Bath Rugby for the first time in a @premrugby Rugby match while prop @WillStuart10 will make his 50th appearance for the Blue, Black and White 💙

COYB! 🔵⚫⚪

— Bath Rugby (@BathRugby) September 22, 2022

Bath make seven changes including an all-new back row as Miles Reid, Chris Cloete and Richard de Carpentier line-up together, while Will Stuart replaces Aranos Coetzee at tighthead prop.

There are also completely different half-backs for Bath as Louis Schreuder replaces captain Ben Spencer at nine – meaning hooker Tom Dunn will take on the mantle for the first time – and Orlando Bailey comes in for Piers Francis at fly-half.

The final change sees Ojomoh come in for Cam Redpath at inside-centre.

Captain Dunn was relishing the chance to play on a Friday night at The Rec in his pre-match comments.

“I love Friday nights at The Rec,” he said.

“If you play 100 games for this club and only 50 are at home, only eight to 10 will be on a Friday night so it’s a massive opportunity we don’t get to do very often.

“It’s another opportunity to get better; it’s another opportunity to push in the direction we want to push.”

🗞 𝑻𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑵𝑬𝑾𝑺 🗞

Your Wasps side to take on Bath Rugby in R3️⃣ of the Gallagher Premiership.

⚫️ Jacob Umaga is back at 1️⃣5️⃣
🟡 Dan Frost Starts at 2️⃣
⚫️ Francois Hougaard in at 1️⃣4️⃣

🏟The Rec, 7.45pm
📺BT Sport

👉 https://t.co/EmksrHSJjB#COYW #WaspaAlways pic.twitter.com/PVc6KAhbPS

— Wasps Rugby (@WaspsRugby) September 22, 2022

For Wasps, there are half a dozen changes including a fresh front row which sees Robin Hislop, Tom Cruse and John Ryan replaced by Tom West, Dan Frost and Biyi Alo.

Tom Willis moves to his more natural position of number eight, with brother Jack occupying the seven shirt he wore last week, and Nizaam Carr stepping up to fill the gap Tom left at number six.

The final two changes are at 14 and 15, where Francois Hougaard comes in for Zach Kibirige and Jacob Umaga replaces Ali Crossdale respectively.

Blackett will be hoping the changes enable his side to take more of the chances they create, after saying last week: “The number of opportunities out there, you look and you reflect and you’re thinking, it wasn’t like we looked clueless at times, we were creating opportunities.

“We just made far too many mistakes with the ball, that’s why I’m constantly saying we’ve got to improve our skill set and that’s what we want from Wasps players.

“I think if you’d seen us in pre-season, I saw us heading in the right direction in terms of that. I think it’s a bad day in the office but we have got to be constantly working on that and that is the direction we are going in – we’re working really hard on our skills and we’ve got to work even harder.”

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