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| Steve Meehan takes Bath to Leeds for crucial Guinness Premiership battle • Bath coach wants to 'back up' win over Gloucester• Leeds' Back sees chance to gain momentumConsistency will be key for Steve Meehan when his Bath team face their fellow Premiership strugglers Leeds at Headingley . Leeds, the bottom side, are three points behind Bath. Both teams won their last match, Bath beating Gloucester 24-8 at home and Leeds winning 16-15 at Newcastle."We are after a couple of good performances on the bounce and we've got the first one," said Meehan. "We need to back that up again. We know the game against Leeds is an important match – it's a massive game for us. The beauty of the Premiership is that it is so tight. Any side on a particular day can get up and challenge another and win. It's important for us to keep our feet on the ground, keep working, keep improving and go up there and play some positive rugby."Bath have not won away in the league for over three months and Leeds are the only club without a home Premiership win this season.Leeds' head coach, Neil Back, said: "If we win, then potentially we go off the bottom and then look forward to a game against Quins which is winnable. If we lose it does open up a bit of a gap, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the world as we are only at the halfway stage of the season. There are another 10 games after this so there's plenty of time for movement in the table. We just have to look at our own performance and what we can control and hopefully that will lead us to victory."Worcester, whose last Premiership win was on 26 September, will be dragged into the relegation picture if they lose against Gloucester. Mike Ruddock's team did the double over Gloucester last season but they will arrive at Kingsholm on the back of a 26-6 home defeat by Northampton."The spirit in the camp is good," said Worcester's forwards coach, the former Gloucester prop Tony Windo. "We ended up losing by 20 points [against Northampton] but we created plenty of scoring opportunities. What we need is to convert these chances, and then we will get the results. We don't see ourselves as being at the bottom of the league, playing badly. We see ourselves as being where we are in the league for not taking the chances we are creating."Bryan Redpath, the Gloucester head coach, has responded to his side's defeat at Bath last Sunday by making five changes to his starting line-up. Three of the changes are in the backs, where Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu and Lesley Vainikolo return, at centre and on the wing, and Dave Lewis comes in at scrum-half for Rory Lawson, who had to leave the field early at the Recreation Ground after receiving a blow to the head. Adam Eustace partners Alex Brown in the second row and the Fiji flanker Akapusi Qera plays for the first time since the home win over Newcastle on 5 December. PAGuinness PremiershipBathLeedsWorcesterGloucesterRugby unionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Darren Ferguson appointed new manager of Preston North End Darren Ferguson has been confirmed as the new manager of Preston North End. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Hook is a transfer target for Perpignan • Fly-half has recovered from shoulder injury• Ospreys say Welshman will be staying putJames Hook has recovered from a shoulder injury and will be on the bench for the Ospreys in their Heineken Cup match at Clermont Auvergne tomorrow afternoon, but the region faces a fight to hold on to the unsettled fly-half, who has grown frustrated at being played out of position in the centre or at full-back.The Ospreys have turned down approaches from Cardiff Blues and Worcester for the 24-year-old, but Perpignan are reported to be ready to offer a three-year contract worth some ÂŁ900,000, on top of a transfer fee, for a player with 15 months left on his contract.The Ospreys insist that Hook is going nowhere, but he has admitted to being frustrated that his place at fly-half has gone to the 20-year-old Dan Biggar, who has also forced his way into the Wales squad as the deputy to Stephen Jones. "James is contracted to us and all this speculation is unhelpful," a club statement said. "It can also be unsettling for all concerned, particularly at such an important time of the season with big Heineken Cup matches coming up that require 100% focus from players and coaches alike."The Worcester director of rugby, Mike Ruddock, a former Wales coach, said he did not think Hook would leave Wales. "I met James's agent a couple of months ago but I was told that until he was out of contract with the Ospreys, there was not a chance that he would come here. It's unlikely a current international would leave Wales because they know it could compromise their place in the national side."Hook played at fly-half in Warren Gatland's first match as coach in February 2008 at Twickenham, but lost his place to Stephen Jones later in the year and played at full-back last November. Gatland said after the autumn series that Wales needed Hook's creative touch closer to the action, but his international future would appear to lie more in the centre than at fly-half, the position Perpignan want him to play.OspreysPerpignanRugby unionPaul Reesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Houston Texans ticket price to go up again Tickets for the Houston Texans in 2010 will average $71.86 per ticket, a 6.7 percent increase from last year. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Roddick joins Nadal, Murray in Australian Open quarterfinals Andy Roddick outlasted Fernando Gonzalez of Chile to survive a Sunday of upsets at the Australian Open that resulted in fourth-round exits for ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |