England centre Kyle Eastmond keen for Bath Rugby recall ahead of Amlin Cup ...

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Kyle Eastmond is hoping for an Amlin Cup winners’ medal to make up for the disappointing end to his own Aviva Premiership season.

Eastmond had to watch from the stands as Bath sealed their place in the European final last month, with the centre sent to the sin-bin in the closing stages of the victory over Wasps in the last four.

The 24-year-old then missed out on selection for Bath’s final two Premiership matches as their hopes of a place in the play-offs came up agonisingly short.

Bath returned to training last Thursday and two-cap England international Eastmond has had a week to force himself back into the reckoning for Friday night’s continental decider against Northampton Saints.

“I’m not playing and it’s hard but I’m just trying my best to help my team-mates out so they can prepare for the games as best they can,” said Eastmond.

“Everybody is up for selection every week here and the last two games I haven’t played. The guys think there is a better route to go to win the game, and that’s fine. We all back what we are doing and if there is a better way to play then we all fully support that.

“We’ve got a few options in midfield and that can be a good thing as the opposition might not pick up on who is playing or the style we will play that weekend.

“I think there’s still a bit more improvement in me. It’s been a bit up and down and I started the season with an injury.

“But these things happen to all players and it’s not something I’m worried about at all. Hopefully we can end the season on a high on Friday.”

One of the matches Eastmond was forced to sit out was the 19-19 league draw with Saints at The Rec at the start of the month.

Eastmond says Bath have studied that game and know where to target to ensure they do not come up short again.

“We’ve tried to look back on things we did well and things we didn’t do so well,” said Eastmond.

“There’s things we have picked up on that maybe we can exploit this weekend. But there are also things they did well so we’re also looking out for that as well. We’ll do our analysis but it’s a final and anything can happen.

“We’ve made great improvements over the year and played really well. Every week we’ve improved and I’m pretty sure we will do that again this week. Hopefully that will get us the win.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/27406882

England centre Kyle Eastmond keen for Bath Rugby recall ahead of Amlin Cup ...