Toulouse should be concerned, warns Meehan
The club begin life after prop Matt Stevens’ shock drugs revelation by facing their biggest game of the season.
While Bath and England star Stevens contemplates the prospect of a lengthy ban from the sport following a positive test last month, his team-mates tackle Toulouse in a winner-takes-all Pool Five clash.
A quarter-final place beckons for the victors – and Meehan is fired up to exact revenge following an 18-16 defeat in Toulouse three months ago.
He said: “Toulouse should be very concerned about how well we can play and what sort of challenge we will present. I don’t think people are giving the Bath players enough credit for how well they’ve performed.”
Toulouse suffered a shock home defeat against Glasgow last weekend, leaving them needing to beat Bath or face only a fourth pool-stage exit in 14 European campaigns.
Meehan added: “After the results last weekend, there was a suggestion through the media that all of a sudden Toulouse were going to come to Bath and play. I can tell you that after the first match in October, they knew they had to come to the Recreation Ground and play.
“This game has been at the back of our minds for some time. We are well aware of what is at stake and well aware of the opportunity it presents.”
Stevens is replaced by Duncan Bell, while David Barnes takes over from David Flatman at loosehead prop and skipper Michael Lipman returns in the back row.
Fly-half Frederic Michalak has been axed by Toulouse following the Glasgow loss, missing out just days after failing to make France’s 30-man RBS 6 Nations squad.
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde will wear the number 10 shirt, while centre Florian Fritz has recovered from an ankle injury to partner Yannick Jauzion in midfield.
Toulouse coach Guy Noves conceded: “We submitted to Glasgow in every part of the game, and that is just not acceptable. They played a very high-tempo game which stopped us playing our game in the first half.
England, meanwhile, are set to be dealt another injury blow with the likely loss of Leicester flanker Lewis Moody from their RBS 6 Nations campaign. An ankle injury believed to have been sustained during club training yesterday has ruled Moody out of today’s Pool Three decider against the Ospreys in Swansea.
Moody missed virtually all of last season’s Six Nations due to injury, with England manager Martin Johnson already resigned to being without stricken Wasps forwards Tom Rees and Tom Palmer this time around.
Tom Croft and Ben Woods pack down in the back row alongside number eight Jordan Crane, but a hamstring injury sidelines centre Aaron Mauger, so Toby Flood moves into midfield with Derick Hougaard wearing the number 10 shirt.
A Leicester win would guarantee a home quarter-final, although Tigers should still progress even if they lose.
Wales full-back Lee Byrne is named in the Ospreys line-up despite suffering an ankle injury against Perpignan last weekend, but back-row forward Jonathan Thomas has narrowly failed to recover from a groin problem in time.
Some 17,000 tickets have already been sold for today’s clash, labelled as the biggest in Ospreys’ history.
Dwayne Peel will have an immediate chance to bounce back from his Wales demotion when Sale Sharks conclude their European campaign at home to Clermont Auvergne, also today.
Peel, the Lions Test scrum-half in 2005, makes only his 10th start of the season, with Wales concerned about a lack of consistent first-team action at Sale given Sharks’ rotation policy between Peel and England international Richard Wigglesworth.
England wing Mark Cueto captains Sale, whose crushing defeat against Munster last time out ended their quarter-final hopes, while there are also starts for Mathew Tait and Andrew Sheridan.
Bath apart, Sunday’s action sees the culmination of Pool Two, with 2007 European champions Wasps seeking a bonus-point win in Castres that should see them go through, either as group winners or one of two best runners-up.
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