Match Preview
Northampton v Bath – Kick-off 3pm, Franklin’s Gardens
For Ollie Lawrence, last year’s Premiership final defeat to Northampton is firmly in the past as Bath head to Franklin’s Gardens looking to complete the double over the champions.
Lawrence, 25, is one of nine players selected for this weekend’s fixture who also started the 25-21 loss at Twickenham last June.
But, for him, it’s all about what happens today not what has happened in the past.
Final Rematch
After all, they have already played each other once since the final, Bath winning 38-16 when they met at The Rec on the opening day of the season.
“The final is not something I tend to look back on too often, it’s a new week and a new opportunity. Each game we play is always different.
“Hopefully, we can put our best foot forward and continue the form we’re in,” the England international said.
“At the start of the season our goal was to take each week as it comes and we’re fortunate that we’ve played well and it’s put us in the position that we’re in, and we want to keep building on that and take each week as it comes.
“They have great players in their team scattered all over. So we know it is going to be a tough afternoon because we can’t switch off at any point.”
Lawrence is enjoying his time on the pitch – he’s the only Bath player yet to be subbed off – and has scored four tries in eight league appearances.
Much of the credit, he says, goes to not only the player playing directly inside him, which is Max Ojomoh today, but Bath’s kingpin half-back combination of captain Ben Spencer and million-pound man Finn Russell.
Bath’s Backline
“A lot of the time Finn does the hard work and then I’ve just got to find the holes to run into,” he said.
“Him and Spenny are world-class players and they are bringing that with every game now. With the way they drive the team and put us in the right areas, you couldn’t ask for much more from your captain and fly-half.”
Playing with confidence and as a swagger as befits a jersey once worn by Jerry Guscott, Lawrence is averaging more offloads, clean breaks and carriers per match than he did for England in the autumn.
While acknowledging his role for club and country differs slightly, he is happy with his rugby across the board.
“In internationals, there isn’t always as much space as there is in the Premiership, and that does affect the way I play at times, so it’s difficult to compare the two,” he said.
“With England I have played a more direct approach. Off strike phases at Bath I’ve done that but more in the wider channels. I enjoy pulling on the jersey for England as much as I do playing for Bath.
“Whatever role I have to do, whether that is 12 or 13 and whether that is direct or in those wide channels, I’m trying to work on both aspects of my game.”
Lawrence has played solely at 13 for Bath this season but had 12 on his back in the opening autumn Test against New Zealand, before reverting to inside centre.
While Lawrence is the preferred partner to Henry Slade in England’s midfield at present, Fraser Dingwall, his opposite number today, continues to make a strong case for selection.
England Matchup
Does that add extra spice to today’s fixture?
“My job is to do what I am best at, and to try and put the team in the best position to win.
“I personally don’t try and get too fixated on people that I am playing against,” he said.
“Fraser is a great player, I’ve played age-group level with him and trained with him on the international stage as well.”
If Bath are to do the league double over Saints and continue their impressive run of wins on the road, they will need to be at their clinical best.
No team has a better record than Bath when it comes to converting pressure in the opposition 22 into tries, with 42 per cent of visits leading to five points being scored.
“That’s something that we touched on in pre-season, our ruthlessness and not allowing teams to get back into the game, and I think that is something we have done well this season.
“If you look back to last week (68-10 win against Saracens), we could have easily shut up shop and not pushed for more tries. But we continued to back ourselves and our system and the players around us to get that result.”
READ MORE: Time for Saints to push Bath up front – Jeremy Guscott
Team News
Ojomoh replaces Cam Redpath (hamstring) as one of five changes from last week. There is also a first start at full-back for nearly two years for Orlando Bailey.
Tom de Glanville is fit to play but Bath boss Johann van Graan has opted to give him a rest.
Up front, Will Stuart, Ross Molony and Miles Reid come into the XV. Reid is at openside, so Guy Pepper shifts to blindside and Alfie Barbeary continues at 8 in a previously untried back row combination. Academy hooker Kepu Tuipulotu is in line to make his Premiership debut off the bench.
