HEAD coach Mike Ford believes Bath Rugby have the capabilities to win the Aviva Premiership this season – but now is the time to prove it.

Bath sit second in the table after a superb first half of the season and take on league leaders Northampton Saints at The Rec on Saturday.

Ford’s side were beaten 34-24 away at third-in-the-table Saracens last weekend and he believes going toe-to-toe with the top sides in the league now will give them the best chance of success when the play-offs come around.

“Our goal this year is to win the competition and we are not going to shy away from that,” said Ford.

“But we know that there are also maybe five or six other teams who all feel the same way.

“We feel we’ve got the right things in place to be able to do that but now it’s about whether we can carry that out.

“We need to beat these teams at the top to reinforce that belief.”

Champions Northampton have inflicted some of the toughest losses on Bath since Ford has been at the helm.

A draw at The Rec late last season played a big part in Bath missing out on the end-of-season play-offs, while they were also beaten by Jim Mallinder’s men in the Amlin Cup final.

Defeat against Saints this weekend would mean Bath will be hard pushed to finish top of the table in the regular season but Ford says he will be happy as long as his side are in the top two.

He said: “There’s a bit of a kudos about being top but to have home advantage in the play-offs, you only have to finish in the top two.

“In my two years in charge, we’ve not beaten them. We came very close last year but I think they have got stronger since they won the competition last year.

“They are in a similar situation to us as they have got people missing this weekend. They’re a good side and it’s going to be a tough challenge but we’re looking forward to it.”

Both teams will be without those players who have featured heavily for England so far in the RBS 6 Nations but Bath can call on the services of Wales international prop Paul James.

Veteran scrum-half Peter Stringer is also set to be involved after it was announced that he will leave Bath at the end of the season earlier this week.

Ford added: “Peter has been a fantastic servant for Bath.

“His experience has been invaluable over the last two years, particularly in helping our younger players develop, and we’ll miss his professionalism around the squad.

“It’s a shame we are unable to keep Peter but with Niko Matawalu joining, Chris Cook re-signing and Will Homer coming through from the Academy, this has become an incredibly competitive position within the squad.”