Bath prop Henry Thomas hungry to get teeth into Sale Sharks

Bath lost a scrappy Premiership affair at Newcastle 16-8 as Toby Flood starred with the boot in difficult conditions.

The hometown boy re-joined Bath in 2014 after a four-year period at Sale, and said he is desperate to put in a good performance against his only ex-club, but knows it’s more important the Blue, Black and Whites come away with the win.

He said: “The longer you’re away, the more distant you feel, but at the same time, I was there for four years and it’s my only ex-club.

“I always want to put a good performance in and I always enjoy playing against Sale, it’s a pretty gritty game.

“Steve Diamond gets them well fired up and they can be quite niggly, but I’m looking forward to it. We need to put a performance in after last week.

“I still know quite a few of the guys that play and a few of the coaches. I always like playing in against old friends, trying to prove a point.

“They usually get stuck into me, which I quite like as well, but the most important thing is the performance and getting the win. After last week, there’s a lot of wrongs to right."

The prop says that while Sale have some dangerous outlets, Bath are confident in their ability to nullify those threats and come out on top.

Thomas said: “Where it went well last week was the scrum, which was great, so we need to carry on building on that.

“Sale usually come down with a big pack, so on a wet and windy day, it’s a good way to get on top.

“They’ve got a lot of guys that like to get over the ball. Faf de Kierk is back playing for them now and he’s been fantastic over the past 12 months.

“There are certain areas you sort out by winning collisions and getting over the gain line, knocking them back behind the gain line.

“Every time you do that, you make it harder for them to compete for the ball and make it harder for de Kierk to get on the front foot."