Bath coach Steve Meehan is hoping that the old adage of a bad dress-rehearsal leads to a good opening night will ring true this week as his players prepare to take on Leicester Tigers in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
Meehan was stunned to see his team create chance after chance in their top of the table clash with Harlequins last weekend, yet lose the game 19-3 at home.
To be fair to Bath, it was their third league outing in nine days and Meehan knows he has to "freshen things up" this week to keep alive his side's European dreams.
"There is still plenty to play for even though we are very disappointed by the game against Quins. Sometimes a bad dress rehearsal can mean a good performance on the big day," said Meehan.
"It's going to be a test of character over the next few weeks to see whether we can come back. We've got to put aside what happened against Quins and get back to playing the rugby we know we can play.
"We need to get as much fuel into the players as we can this week. We've had a few injury disruptions and a few important players have been missing recently.
"And playing three games in nine days in the Premiership is something that the administrators have to look at because it can't be good for anybody.
"Our approach this week will be very different. It will be good to get away from the Premiership after playing Sale, Wasps and Quins in quick succession.
"We need to freshen the players up. We need to arrive at Leicester and play without fear. "It's a one-off cup match and we have to go out and see how good we can be. What happened last weekend certainly won't force us to go into our shells.
"It's a big prize and its worth fishing for. Let's go to the Walkers Stadium and see if Bath can repeat what they did there a few years ago."
