What a great way to end a three-week hiatus – Bristol and Bath will go at it hammer and tongs in tonight's Premiership derby at Ashton Gate. Be sure to watch if you can
Bristol v Bath live stream: How to watch from anywhere
The Gallagher Premiership returns with a bang – a West Country derby between Bristol Bears and Bath at Ashton Gate (7.45pm). And it’s the hosts who have a swagger in their step, leading the league on the back of five successive wins since being pipped at Wasps in round one.
Samoa captain Chris Vui is one of six changes to the Bristol side that stunned champions Exeter 20-7 in their previous match three weeks ago. With Max Malins, Harry Randall and Ben Earl away on Test duty, there are starts for Henry Purdy, Andy Uren and Dan Thomas.
Kyle Sinckler is serving the first game of a two-match ban imposed for swearing at referee Karl Dickson. The Lions tighthead was omitted from England’s Six Nations squad in a ploy to potentially free him up for their round two match against Italy.
Ioan Lloyd, surprisingly left out of the Wales squad, starts at fly-half. Bristol’s regular ten, Callum Sheedy, is named on the bench having been released from Wales camp on Thursday.
Box seat: Ioan Lloyd gets a run in the stand-off position for Bristol, instead of the outside backs (Getty)
DoR Pat Lam had argued for playing Premiership games over the past fortnight after the European competitions were halted. But he said: “It was disappointing initially not to play but it’s been a blessing in disguise. Not the fact that we haven’t played rugby or have rested, it’s more about the quality of the work we’ve managed to get done in those two weeks.
“We’ve worked pretty hard on our game and done some work that maybe we’d normally reserve for pre-season. Now it’s all about sharpening the axe as we go into games.”
Bath make seven changes from the side involved in a 52-44 home defeat by Wasps last time out. Charlie Ewels, Will Stuart and Beno Obano are in England camp, while Sam Underhill is having treatment on the hip injury that forced him to drop out of Eddie Jones’s squad.
Juan Schoeman and Christian Judge come into the front row, Miles Reid replaces Underhill, and Josh Matavesi partners Jonathan Joseph in midfield in the absence of Cameron Redpath, who is with Scotland. Lock Josh McNally wears the captaincy armband.
No way through: Tom de Glanville seeks space during Bath’s ding-dong loss to Wasps this month (Getty)
South African hooker Jacques du Toit, 27, signed from Toyota Cheetahs this week, is not available. He is isolating in line with Covid protocols.
Bath go into the weekend in ninth spot. They have won just once this season, at Worcester, although also collected the points from a cancelled clash with London Irish.
They can draw little comfort from last season’s Premiership meetings with the Bears. Bristol thumped Bath 43-16 in round one, Lloyd scoring one of their seven tries on his debut. And they won the reverse fixture 19-13 last March – their first win at The Rec for 14 years. So Bath will hope it’s payback time in tonight’s match, which will be refereed by Wayne Barnes.
Watch highlights below of Bristol’s emphatic home win over Bath last season…
Bristol: Charles Piutau; Luke Morahan, Semi Radradra, Piers O’Conor, Henry Purdy; Ioan Lloyd, Andy Uren; Jake Woolmore, Bryan Byrne, John Afoa, Dave Attwood, Chris Vui, Steven Luatua (capt), Dan Thomas, Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Jake Armstrong, 19 Ed Holmes, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Tom Kessell, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Alapati Leiua.
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Joe Cokanasiga.
Here’s how to find a reliable live stream of Bristol v Bath wherever you are…
How to watch Bristol v Bath from outside your country
If you’re abroad but still want to watch your local Premiership coverage, like Bristol v Bath, you can do so by using a VPN – Virtual Private Network.
VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking by changing your IP address. So you appear in a different location and can watch the same legal Premiership live stream you would at home.
Our friends at TechRadar have tested hundreds of VPN. They recommend ExpressVPN, which is easy to use, has strong security features and allows you to watch on several devices at once, including smart TVs and phones, iPads, tablets, PCs and Macs.
Plus, ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get three months free.
Bristol v Bath live stream: How to watch from the UK
Bristol v Bath will be shown live on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport Ultimate in the UK this evening. Coverage starts at 7pm ahead of a 7.45pm kick-off. If you don’t have a BT contract but want to watch the match, you can still easily watch it online.
That’s because BT Sport has a contract-free monthly pass that allows you to get instant access to all four of their sport channels for just £25.
If you’re from the UK but are overseas when Bristol v Bath takes place, you can get your normal live stream but you’ll need a VPN – see the information above.
Bristol v Bath live stream: How to watch from Europe
If you’re in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, you can watch Bristol v Bath (kick-off 8.45pm) through the live and on-demand streaming service DAZN.
Bristol v Bath live stream: How to watch from Australia
For those in Australia, Fox Sports have the rights to show Premiership matches and you can watch Bristol v Bath at 6.45am (AEST).
If you don’t want a long-term contract, you can also stream games live and on-demand through Kayo Sports. A basic package is $25 a month and premium is $35 a month – and they’re offering a FREE 14-day trial to new customers.
Bristol v Bath live stream: How to watch from New Zealand
It’s little wonder Sky Sport NZ is the rights holder for Premiership games in New Zealand. They have ten sports channels, including one dedicated to rugby. If you want to tune in to Bristol v Bath from New Zealand, the match kicks off at 8.45am on Sky Sport NZ 1.
It costs $31.99 a month to add Sky Sport to your Sky Starter pack ($25.99). But if you sign up for 12 months before this Sunday, you’ll get your first month free. Plus, you’ll get Sky Go, which allows you to watch live rugby wherever you are.
Bristol v Bath live stream: How to watch from South Africa
If you want to keep track of the many South Africans plying their trade in the Premiership, SuperSport shows matches in South Africa.
South Africa is currently two hours ahead of the UK. So Bristol v Bath kicks off at 9.45pm on the SuperSport Rugby and Grandstand channels.
There are various DStv packages giving access to SuperSport. They range from Access, which has the Blitz and Variety 4 channels, to Premium, which includes all 18 sports channels.
We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:
- Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
- Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad
We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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