If the hackneyed sporting adage 'you either win or you learn' is anything to go by, the England squad have been treated to enough information over the last three weeks to come out of the Autumn Nations Series with PhDs.
On Sunday afternoon, 23 players wearing white will hope to do what their senior England counterparts could not and beat a team of Australians in south-west London.
Between them, Bath and Sale will be missing the nine England internationals selected by Steve Borthwick for the Autumn Nations Series when they meet at The Rec this Saturday in a repeat of last year's Gallagher Premiership semi-final.
Johann van Graan credited Bath’s ability to grow stronger when their players had been sent to the sin bin for Saturday’s dramatic 26-24 Gallagher Premiership victory at Harlequins.
Bath’s refusal to be beaten propelled them to a gripping 26-24 Gallagher Premiership victory over Harlequins made possible by Francois van Wyk’s late try.
Luke Pearce, the match referee at The Rec last Friday night, didn’t buy into the No8’s complaint about what he alleged happened to him versus Northampton.
Two Bath recruits, loosehead prop Francois van Wyk and flanker Guy Pepper, are poised to make their debuts on Friday against Northampton Saints after being named on the bench by Johann van Graan.
Former Leinster and Ireland second row Ross Molony is set to make his Bath debut in a pre-season clash against a familiar foe.
No sooner had Blues No8 Hoskins Sotutu failed to make Scott Robertson's first All Blacks squad on Monday than calls were rising for the 25-year-old to make an allegiance switch.
The impact of the 25-year-old back-rower was one of the prime reasons why Bath reached the league final and came so agonisingly close to beating Northampton last Saturday and becoming champions of England for the first time since 1996.