West warns Saints pack they are in for a tough night against Bath

And West has warned his men are ready to get their revenge at the Recreation Ground on Friday night.

Bath were beaten at Franklin’s Gardens in the final game of 2013, but it wasn’t for the lack of a pack.

The visiting forwards turned up the heat on their Saints counterparts in the second half with hooker Rob Webber and No.8 Leroy Houston grabbing tries.

Saints went on to win the game 43-25, but memories of it remain fresh for forwards coach West.

He said: “We won’t forget that they came here and mauled us over the line and scrummaged us over the line.

“They caused us a lot of problems and that’s in the forefront of our memories so we need to make sure we go there and give a good account of ourselves.

“Bath are a great club, they’ve got great players and a great coaching staff.

“They’ve played some real good rugby, ground some results out in tough games and they’ve got a good pack of forwards, quality backs and good kickers.

“It’s going to be a tough game on their pitch, it always is and we need to be at our best to compete.”

This week’s league clash is the first of a huge month of fixtures for Saints, who have their sights set on silverware in the Aviva Premiership and Amlin Challenge Cup final.

Northampton and Bath, who meet in the Challenge Cup final at Cardiff Arms Park on May 23, could square up three times during May.

But West does not believe victory this Friday will have a huge psychological effect on future battles.

He said: “We’re not worried about any of that at the moment. We’re only worried about Friday night and making sure we’re the best we can be.

“They’re all big games now. Every week’s a big game. There’s four games left, possibly five, and we need to make sure we’re at the best of our abilities.

“We need to make sure we’ve got people rested and make sure we’re picking strong enough teams to keep winning games.”