NATHAN Catt has warned Bath the cut-throat nature of the Heineken Cup means they must hit the ground running in Sunday’s Pool Three opener in Scotland (12.45pm).

The Recreation Ground side have bowed out in the group stages of the last two seasons, winning just three of their past 12 matches in the competition.

With hosts Glasgow Warriors having their sights set on improving the fortunes of Scottish sides in the competition, prop Catt knows there is little room for error as another European campaign gets underway.

“There are not too many games in the Heineken Cup and there are no easy ones either,’’ said the 23-year-old, who has made eight appearances so far this season.

“Glasgow is a tough first test for us and it’s important for us to try and start the campaign the right way.

“It’s a hard place to go to start with and they are going very well in their (Pro 12) league, but we want to go there and get the result.’’

Bath have finished in the bottom two of each of their pools in the last two seasons and the task of progressing to the knockout stages this season looks a tough one, with defending champions Leinster and French Top 14 outfit Montpellier also in the pool.

But Catt, who played in last weekend’s 26-14 home defeat to Aviva Premiership leaders Harlequins said: “We’ll be taking one game at a time. The first task is to go to Glasgow and get a result there, then we can look forward to the next games.

“We were disappointed we didn’t get the result against Quins and ther are a few issues we need to work on after that defeat.’’

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