Capital: Clash and Claws

Bath face Tigers in a “home” clash at Twickenham this Saturday. The switch of venue is not to some fans liking- cost is one objection, the other surrender of home advantage when hosting such bitter rivals. Tigers may have the better league record in recent seasons but the last 6 home AP games have all been won by Bath- initially close affairs, but latterly more convincing. While last season’s final day win merely blunted Tigers’ claws, the Rec matches the previous season saw two clean kills yielding fine trophy memories, the beast's skin metaphorically mounted on the wall and made into a fireside rug. Time was when an annual Twickenham trip was a Bath habit- a winning one. In a dozen golden years, ten RFU cups were won, three of them against Tigers. The last of those was two decades ago, which explains the angst about ceding real home advantage. Is the capital trip then just vanity, a fantasy of a Big Top environment to tame the tiger in?  Or will the big game bring the best out of the Blue, Black & White?