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Aironi Rugby welcome Bath to Stade Luigi Zaffanella on Saturday. The Italians suffered a 30-6 defeat at the hands of Ulster on the opening weekend of Heineken Cup action but will be hoping to make home advantage count in round two.
Despite having no wins to their name in the Magners League this year the Italian franchise have proved a tough nut to crack on home soil with Ulster and Edinburgh scraping to narrow wins.
Bath also tasted defeat on the opening weekend of Europe's premier competition falling to an agonising 12-11 loss to Biarritz Olympique at the Rec.
The 1998 Champions will be hoping to make amends for their opening day loss by kick-starting their European Campaign with a crucial away win.
Bath got their Heineken Cup campaign back on track with a bonus point victory at Aironi.
The West-Country giants scored three first half tries to seal the win at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella.
The visitors raced into a comfortable 17-3 half-time lead thanks to tries from Tom Biggs, Matt Carraro and Nick Abendanon.
Aironi stuck to their task with spirit in the second-half however, frustrating Bath.
The hosts could only manage a Ludovic Mercier penalty in the first forty minutes, the veteran French fly-half getting his side on the score-sheet after Biggs had crossed the first try.
Carraro and then Abendanon scored before the break for Steve Meehan’s men.
Mercier added his second-penalty after 54 minutes before Bath claimed the vital bonus-point when captain Luke Watson was driven over from close-range.
Try-scorer Abendanon starred and the England full-back was happy to register maximum points.
“We’re very happy with the result. The boys knew how important it was to get a win after last week’s home loss to Biarritz, which was unforgivable,” said Abendanon.
“We’re delighted to get the victory especially with the bonus-point. Every point in Europe matters and every bonus-point you pick up are vital.
“We still have work to do. We went through patches and struggled to keep hold of the ball. But Sam Vesty and Olly Barkley controlled the game well and kept us in the right areas.”
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