PROP Kane Palma-Newport is preparing for his first Twickenham experience as a professional player buoyed by the knowledge that ‘Headquarters’ will be almost exclusively kitted out in blue, black and white on Saturday afternoon.

Bath ‘host’ old rivals Leicester Tigers in ‘The Clash’ at the home of English rugby (2pm), having sold more than 55,000 tickets for the Aviva Premiership encounter.

Consecutive defeats to Bristol, Wasps and Saracens in their last three domestic matches have seen Bath surrender the fourth play-off spot to the Tigers and with just three regular-season games remaining, the potential fall-out from victory and defeat this weekend has been heightened.

Bath re-established a winning formula last weekend with a 34-20 success over Brive in the last eight of the European Challenge Cup but Palma-Newport admits a similar knockout-type scenario is on the table as they return to Premiership duty.

“We never lost confidence in ourselves. People start murmuring on the outside but it (the Brive win) stops that conversation,’’ said the 27-year-old, who has scored three tries this season.

“Wasps and Saracens delivered their gameplan against us perfectly, but it was fantastic to be involved in a quarter-final and get the win and it’s another quarter-final this weekend - an eight-point game.

Palma-Newport’s only previous taste of Twickenham came in the form of an U20s county encounter for Gloucestershire against Yorkshire in his pre-professional days and, despite the novelty of Bath transferring one of their home games to the capital, he is impressed with the way club and supporters have bought in to the idea.

“At the start of the year, there was probably a bit of ‘umming and ahhing’ about it, but we’ve been told that only 3,000 tickets have been sold to Leicester supporters.

“How often do you get to say you got to play in front of 52,000 Bath fans? I managed to play their once before in my career when I was 18, but to play there in front of a large crowd, most of whom are backing you, is huge.”

Bath versus Leicester remains one of English rugby’s oldest and fiercely-fought rivalries and despite a topsy-turvy campaign, Palma-Newport knows the Tigers pose a significant threat.

“Obviously Cockers (director of rugby Richard Cockerill) was sacked, but they are attacking a lot more this season,’’ he added.

“They have a very strong set-piece so a big battle will be there and there are little rivalries and sub-plots all over the pitch.

“But if we are able to win it, we’ll be in a good place.’’