Aviva Premiership: Bath v Gloucester in derby clash on Friday night

Dave Attwood is back in action for Bath

Kyle Eastmond released by England and will feature

Bath have a number of star names back in the fold for their deby clash with Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership on Friday night.

The return of several players including Rob Webber, Dave Attwood and Anthony Watson is a big lift for the hosts.

Webber is joined in the front-row by the international duo of Paul James and Anthony Perenise, with the versatile Samoan prop shifting back to the tighthead.

Attwood partners captain Stuart Hooper in the engine room, whilst Matt Garvey and Francois Louw are also back in the starting line-up on the blind and openside flanks. Carl Fearns continues at the base of the scrum.

The experience of Peter Stringer combines once more with the promising young talent of George Ford in the half-backs, as Matt Banahan reverts to the left wing and Semesa Rokoduguni comes back onto the right.

Kyle Eastmond, released by England, returns to partner Jonathan Joseph in the midfield with Watson named at full-back.

Meanwhile, Tom Savage returns to skipper Gloucester at the Rec on Friday, as the Cherry and Whites make several changes to the team that started in Munster last weekend.

Only six players are retained in the starting line-up from that Heineken Cup encounter in Limerick – the front-row of Dan Murphy, Darren Dawidiuk and Rupert Harden as well as Jonny May, Ryan Mills and Mike Tindall in the backs.

Freddie Burns and Matt Kvesic were released from England training camp on Wednesday and are named at fly half and openside flanker respectively.

James Simpson-Daniel will make his 183rd Premiership appearance for Gloucester, and overtakes Peter Buxton in the process to become Gloucester’s top appearance maker.

The teams:

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Carl Fearns, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Will Spencer, 20 Alafoti Fa’osiliva, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Gavin Henson, 23 Horacio Agulla.

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Jonny May, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Tom Savage (capt), 5 James Hudson, 4 Elliott Stooke, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 James Gibbons, 19 Will James, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Charlie Sharples, 23 Akapusi Qera.