Bath Rugby and Bristol have not always enjoyed a cordial relationship – but they are teaming up today for a training session Andy Robinson hopes will give his team "a springboard" into their festive fixtures.
Bristol have taken several players on loan from Bath in recent seasons, with flanker Nick Koster the latest, and the clubs have shown a willingness to work together in certain areas.
One of those is to occasionally organise full-on training sessions, and the sides expected to go up against each other today in live attack-versus-defence situations, as well as scrums and line-outs.
Bristol director of rugby Andy Robinson, a former Bath captain and coach, hopes the session will benefit his players ahead of their GKIPA Championship games against Ealing this Saturday and Moseley a week later.
"It's training against another opposition and training with a high level of physicality, which is something we want to improve in what we're doing," said Robinson.
"It's something that Bristol did last season – they used that a couple of times – so we're going to see how the other half live at Farleigh Hungerford and we're looking forward to a good training session.
"The key for this is that we're using it in preparation to play against Ealing – it's to give us a springboard into Ealing and Moseley."
Bristol's last two league matches ended in defeats against Cornish Pirates and Leeds, so their block of British & Irish Cup games allowed them to return to winning ways.
They beat Scottish Premiership leaders Gala 62-7 at home and 17-6 away, with a 78-0 win at Aberavon in between.
