Rugby / Bunker Nuggets

Current Form

-         Toulouse will go into this game with confidence having won 5 of their 7 games domestically and currently sitting second in the French Top 14. Toulouse are yet to lose at home this season.

-         Bath meanwhile have also had a great start to the season, they sit at the top of the Guinness Premiership winning 4 of their 5 games and picking up two 4 try bonus points. In their last league game they pulled off an impressive away win at Wasps, but at the weekend in a home game against Leicester they were beaten in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

-         Last year Toulouse qualified from their group as winners and progressed to the final, but they were beaten by Munster in a 16-13 game.

-         Bath didn’t compete in the Heineken Cup last year, but automatically qualified for this year’s tournament after lifting the European Challenge Cup, beating English rivals Worcester in the final.

History

-         Toulouse are one of the major forces in Heineken Cup history. They have competed in every single competion, have won the Cup 3 times, came runner up twice and have lost at the semi finals on 4 occasions.

-         Bath have won the competition on one occasion, in the 1997/1998 season, and in their most recent appearance in the 2005/06 competition they progressed to the semi finals.

Trends and Trivia

-         Fabien Pelous is Toulouse’s most experienced Heineken Cup player, he has played in 66 games, and is currently 6^th in all time Heineken Cup appearances.

-         Bath’s most experienced Heineken Cup player ever is Steve Borthwick, but out of the current players Danny Grewcock is with 17 starts. Interestingly the 3 most experienced players mentioned here are all locks.

-         So far this season Bath have been better in attack, they average a try every 25 minutes, to Toulouse’s 35 minutes. Both Toulouse and Bath finish their games strongly – Toulouse have scored 3 tries in the last 10 minutes and Bath have scored 4.

-         Toulouse edge Bath defensively this season, they concede a try on average every 56 minutes, whilst Bath concede one every 44 minutes. Toulouse haven’t conceded in the first 10 minutes of any of their games, but have conceded 3 in the last 10 minutes.

-         Vincent Clerc is currently 2 tries off Dafydd James’ record for all time top Heineken Cup try scorers. Clerc has started 37 Heineken Cup games and has 26 tries to his name, including 5 in last year’s competition.

For full details of Bath this season click this link

For full details of Toulouse this season click this link  

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