Wasps v Bath - Premiership Preview

Wasps have won their last three Gallagher Premiership Rugby matches and have not won four in succession since October 2020. Wasps have won their last four first team matches at the Coventry Building Society Arena since Munster beat them there in the European Champions Cup in December.

Bath Rugby’s two game winning run in Gallagher Premiership Rugby ended with their 3-40 reversal at Saracens on Saturday. Excluding unplayed fixtures, Bath’s most recent away win in Premiership Rugby was on a visit to Newcastle in March 2021.

Wasps have won their last five fixtures against Bath, their best ever sequence against them in Premiership Rugby whilst Bath’s most recent victory in Coventry was 24-14 in Premiership Rugby in December 2018.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (9th Premiership game).

Assistant Referees: Adam Leal & Rob Warburton. TMO: Rowan Kitt.

Citing Officer: Jay Curts.

Stats from OPTA

• Wasps have won each of their last five Premiership matches against Bath Rugby, their longest ever winning run against them in Premiership history. Each of those five games have been decided by a ten point margin or less.
• In their last 12 matches against Bath, Wasps have won on every occasion they’ve scored 18 or more points but lost every time they’ve failed to reach that mark.
• Wasps have won their last three games in the Premiership and are looking to record four straight victories for the first time since August – October 2020, when they won seven in a row before going on to lose to Exeter in that year’s final (13-19).
• Bath have lost each of their last nine games away from home in the Premiership; their worst run since they lost 12 in a row between April 2006 – April 2007, including a 47-18 defeat to Wasps in November 2006.
• Wasps have advanced past the gain-line on a higher percentage of their carries than any other side in the Premiership so far this season (51.3%). Along with Northampton, they are one of only two sides to do so on over half of their carries.
• Wasps have forced the most turnovers of any side so far in this season’s Premiership (75). Bath rank tenth with 52 turnovers won.
• Bath missed 49 tackles against Saracens last weekend, the joint most of any side in a single game so far this season, alongside Gloucester in Round 5.
• Wasps’ Alfie Barbeary made 24 carries in last weekend’s round of Premiership fixtures, the most by any player this season and the most by a Wasps player since Nathan Hughes made 26 against Worcester in September 2018. In fact, no forward made more carry meters in the last round than Nathan Hughes (103), who is now at Bath.
• Wasps’ Tom Willis is tied top in the rankings for defenders beaten so far this Premiership season (46), alongside Harlequins’ Tyrone Green. Bath’s highest-ranked player in the standing is Tom de Glanville, who is tied for seventh spot with 32 tackle breaks.
• Wasps scrum-half Dan Robson recorded the most kicking meters of any player in last weekend’s round of fixtures (478), whilst his opposite number at Bath, Ben Spencer, ranked second (451).