Old foes Bath and Leicester Tigers meet at The Rec, with the hosts aiming for a third win in as many matches to further fuel their fast start to the new campaign.

Bonus point victories over Newcastle and Saracens have set the hosts up for a strong season, but it has been far tougher for the Tigers, who are still without several Rugby World Cup stars.

That has been borne out in defeats to Bristol and Sale and they could be in for another tough afternoon on their travels.

Team news

Bath have made eight alterations to the team that won at Saracens, with Beno Obano, Tom Dunn and Thomas du Toit forming a new-look front row.

Lock Josh McNally and flanker Fergus Lee-Warner also come in, while Will Muir, Max Ojomoh and Matt Gallagher are included behind the scrum.

Leicester have made four changes, with Wales flanker Tommy Reffell returning at openside and is joined in the back-row by number eight Matt Rogerson.

Prop James Cronin, a tryscorer in his team’s 19-18 defeat in this fixture last season, also makes his first start of the season. Last but not least, Harry Wells is included in the second row.

A ray of light for the Tigers has been the form of wing Ollie Hassell-Collins. The 24-year-old arrived from London Irish and grabbed his first try for the club in the defeat to Sale.

Hassell-Collins scored nine tries for the Exiles last season, including a hat-trick against Bath.

Match odds

Bath’s form means they are just 1/3 in the Match Winner market, with Leicester 11/4 and the Tie 25/1.

Handicap 3-Way – Bath -9 @ EVS

Leicester have looked underpowered so far this season and, while Reffell’s return is a real boost, they are still some distance from being full-strength.

It is a different story for Bath, who have been able to rotate for this match and are again likely to be inspired by new signing Finn Russell.

Scotland’s early exit from the World Cup has seen the fly-half thrown straight in and he has been largely excellent in his two outings for the Blue, Black and White.

Expect him to be a feature in everything his side does and he can inspire them to a decent victory.

The hosts’ previous home match this season saw them beat Newcastle 34-26, so some punters might be tempted by the 5/6 for Over 50.5 points, while they are 11/8 to win both halves.