NEAL Hatley hopes the intense atmosphere at the Millennium Stadium for England’s Six Nations opener away to Wales tonight can spill over to The Rec to give Bath Rugby’s LV= Cup clash on Saturday extra spice.

Bath face Anglo-Welsh hostilities of their own when they entertain Ospreys, with the hosts needing a win to give them a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

A 23-21 success at Harlequins last weekend has put Bath up to nine points in Pool One, three adrift of leaders Saracens, and they need another victory as well as the Londoners to lose at home to Exeter Chiefs to progress.

First-team coach Hatley said: “Particularly with it being a Wales v England weekend, everyone is looking forward to this game.

“The club have done an outstanding and I think the game is sold out.

“It could have been a bit of a dead rubber but this means there will be a fantastic atmosphere, just like there is every week.

“You can give yourself a headache thinking about the permutations for this weekend. The onus on us is to just put in another good performance.

“It is works out for us then great but if not at least we can look back and be proud of the way we played.”

A youthful Bath line-up were triumphant at The Stoop last weekend and Hatley says Bath want to give those players more game time this weekend.

However, their hand has been forced by the departure of Charlie Ewels, Rory Jennings and Max Clark for England U20s duty, while Bath are also keen to involve their returning England Saxons players.

Hatley said: “We want to reward the guys for the effort they put in the last game so it will probably be a bit of a mix of youth and experience.

“We were very pleased with how we went last week. To have a team that young and go to a place like The Stoop and win is very impressive.

“Sometimes players view these games as too much of an opportunity and they put too much pressure on themselves and try too hard.

“We spoke about responsibility rather than opportunity and what it means to wear the Bath shirt. The guys all stood up to that really well.”

Bath quartet Dave Attwood, George Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson will all start for England in the RBS 6 Nations opener away to Wales tonight.

England have been hampered by a spate of injuries in the build up to the clash at the Millennium Stadium and make six changes to the starting XV that beat Australia in their last Test in November.

Fly-half Ford, lock Attwood and wing Watson all retain their places but centre Joseph comes into the side for his first Test appearance since the summer tour of Argentina in 2013.