Henry Arundell and Tom de Glanville will be back for Bath Rugby tomorrow, Saturday 31st October, when Sales Sharks visit The Rec in the Gallagher PREM (3.05pm).

Both will make their return from injury to feature in the starting line-up for the Round 5 encounter as the Blue, Black & White look to end a disappointing run that has seen them lose three games on the trot across all competitions.

Props Beno Obano and Archie Griffin and hooker Dan Frost will form the hosts’ front row, with Will Jeanes and Charlie Ewels locking in behind.

Ted Hill and Miles Reid will take the flanks, and Josh Bayliss will complete the pack at number 8.

Ben Spencer and Finn Russell will form the half-back pairing and Max Ojomoh and Ollie Lawrence have been named in midfield.

Arundell will start on the left wing, Joe Cokanasiga will operate on the right wing and de Glanville has been picked at full-back.

Among the replacements, prop Claudius Wheeler will make his professional debut.

The other replacement forwards will be Tom Dunn, Will Stuart, Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, Ewan Richards and Jaco Coetzee.

Bernard van der Linde and Louie Hennessey will provide cover for the backs.

Bath starting XV: 1 Beno Obano, 2 Dan Frost, 3 Archie Griffin, 4 Will Jeanes, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Miles Reid, 8 Josh Bayliss, 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Henry Arundell, 12 Max Ojomoh, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville.

Bath replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Claudius Wheeler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, 20 Ewan Richards, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Louie Hennessey, 23 Jaco Coetzee.

While the Blue, Black & White occupy sixth spot in the table, Sale are one place below them. Both sides have won two and lost two of their opening four matches, but Bath have picked up three bonus points to the Sharks’ one.

Johann van Graan’s team lead the PREM for visits to the opposition 22, with 61. They also top the league for possessions in the opposition half (72), underlining their ability to sustain pressure in dangerous areas.

The Sharks are second in the PREM for tackle success percentage (81.4%) and made 163 tackles against Newcastle, underlining their defensive work rate.

For the trip to Somerset, Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson has made five changes to his starting XV following the 17-3 defeat at Newcastle Red Bulls in Round 4 on Friday 23rd October.

Internationals Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Gus Warr and Alex Lozowski plus Nathan Jibulu and Tom O’Flaherty have all been brought back.

Sanderson said: “I’m sure they [Bath] feel very similar to how we’re feeling.

“We’re hurting and we’re frustrated to the point of anger – and hurting because we haven’t matched up to our expectations.

“I’m sure Bath are in a very similar mental frame. So the question is ‘Who’s hurting more?’. That’s the question I’ve posed to the lads and that’s the emotional response we’re chasing this weekend.”

Sale starting XV: 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Ben Bamber, 6 Christ Tshiunza, 7 Ben Curry, 8 Tom Curry, 9 Gus Warr, 10 George Ford, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 12 Alex Lozowski, 13 Joe Marchant, 14 Tom Roebuck, 15 Joe Carpenter.

Sale replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Tom Burrow, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Dom Hanson, 22 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 23 Elia Canakaivata.

The referee will be Anthony Woodthorpe, assisted by Alex Thomas and Simon Harding. Dan Jones will be the television match official.

Tickets are available here.

The match will be shown live on TNT Sports 1, UHD and HBO Max.

Later in the afternoon, Bath Ladies will take on Hertfordshire side Old Albanian Saints at The Rec in Women’s Championship South 1.

Free tickets for the match, which will begin at 5.30pm, are available here.

Anyone attending the men’s fixture will have automatic access to the women’s game.

Meanwhile, the Bath & District Combination has found a new home in the city for this season’s Davis Access Cup and Vase finals.

The Cup and Vase showpieces are normally staged at The Rec at the end of the campaign.

But with the stadium’s redevelopment getting under way in the spring, the Combination finals will be played at Bath City FC’s Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park on Saturday 15th May.

Sean Macey, the Combination chairman, said: “As soon as we were informed that The Rec was unavailable this season due to the stadium refurbishment, finding a suitable, quality stadium venue for our prestigious end-of-season finals was paramount.

“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Bath City FC for their tremendous support and co-operation in welcoming us to Twerton Park.

“Their assistance has ensured that players and fans will enjoy a fantastic setting fitting for the culmination of the local rugby season.”

The University of Bath won for the 10th successive home match across two seasons in British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Super Rugby when they overpowered struggling Cardiff Met 38-14 at the Sports Training Village on Wednesday 28th October.

Bath held a 24-0 interval lead thanks to a try apiece from Harry Walker, Sam Winters, Bailey Cutts and Jasper Spandler and two conversions from Max Hooper.

Walker opened the scoring after 13 minutes, Hooper adding the extras, and Winters crossed six minutes later.

Cutts touched down midway through the opening period, Hooper majoring, and then, with 30 minutes gone, Spandler bagged the fourth try.

Cardiff responded after the break with two tries – Will Pearce and Dylan D’Arcy the scorers – plus two conversions by Elis Thomas to reduce the deficit to 24-14.

However, Bath roared back. Walker touched down with five minutes remaining, James Linegar successful from the tee, and Will Keylock went over for another converted score.

Bath are second in the table, three points behind leaders Hartpury – the only side to beat them this season – after five rounds of matches.

Next up for Bath is a Super Rugby Round 6 fixture against the University of Nottingham at Highfields Playing Fields on Wednesday 4th November (2pm).