Half their squad may be what’s termed ‘home-grown’ but Bath’s chances of success against Northampton on Wednesday evening are much less than 50:50, according to the bookies, who rate the West Country club’s chances of success at 100/30.
For all the experimentation though, some impressive names are still included in their line-up and the layers may have just over-reacted to Stuart Hooper’s desire to test the strength in depth of his squad.
Giving Bath an eight-point start when they have talents like Semesa Rokoduguni and Zach Mercer on display, especially against a team that is prone to missing one-on-one tackles, could be a tad on the generous side.
Saints have the worst tackle success rate (83.5%) of any Premiership team and they really struggled against Wasps in Round 14, slipping off a dozen tackles out of just 69 overall.
There was an improvement in last weekend’s 27-3 win at London Irish but, even so, Bath will see this as an area they can exploit.
While Bath have a dismal record at the Gardens (they have only won once there in the league in the last two decades), Saints aren’t exactly comfortable in their own parish having lost four on the spin there.
As for the team news, Dan Biggar is back to lead an impressive-looking back line, while Nic Auterac has double the reason to be motivated as his club debut comes against one of his former clubs.
Meanwhile, the Matavesi brothers could go head-to-head as Josh lines up at 10 for Bath, and Sam is the Saints’ replacement hooker.
With Saints conceding 28 of their 42 tries after the half-time break, the bet to be had here might be Saints to win the first half and Bath to stage a late rally and win the second.
