“If I were to be branding an image for Bath Rugby, it would probably be Michael Lipman and Alex Crockett,” Steve Meehan said. “They are warriors, they give every last drop and I still have a picture in my mind of Michael with the European Challenge Cup trophy last season, his lip hanging off, shirt torn, knackered.”

It becomes obvious, therefore, why Meehan, Bath’s head coach, has asked Lipman and Crockett to be co-captains this season, the flanker and the centre sharing the on-field and off-field responsibilities. They replace the player so warmly regarded at Bath, Steve Borthwick, who has departed after a ten-year stint for pastures new at Saracens.

Lipman acknowledges that it will not be easy. Borthwick brought an analytical mind to the role as well as the athletic ability that propelled him last season to his best year with England in an intermittent international career that began seven years ago. The comfort for Lipman, the flanker born in England but raised in Australia, is that he will have plenty of experience to turn to, not only with Crockett but such individuals as Danny Grewcock and Justin Harrison, the veteran locks, and Butch James, the South Africa fly half.

“Their support will be paramount for me," Lipman, 28, said. “We have to move on, we have to look to better this season from last season.” Winning the Challenge Cup by beating Worcester in the final represented Bath’s first trophy in ten years; perhaps of greater significance was their appearance — for only the second time since the format was introduced six years ago — in the Guinness Premiership play-offs, but defeat by Gloucester on the final day of the regular season cost them a home semi-final and they lost to London Wasps at Adams Park.

Today’s players are aware of the heights reached by their predecessors of the 1980s and early 1990s and wish to replicate them. “The fact that we won a trophy has relaxed us a bit,” Lipman said, though there remains little sign that Bath are able to advance their facilities off the field as much as they need to do. They have, moreover, lost another significant individual in Olly Barkley, their leading points-scorer, and it is Lipman’s ambition for his club to make a sufficiently good start to the Premiership that they can show, themselves as much as anyone, that they have shrugged off the departure of Borthwick and Barkley.

“From a leadership point of view, the best I can do is deliver my best on the field, lead by example,” Lipman said. His captaincy experience is limited to his school first XV at St Joseph’s College, in the Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill, but he has absorbed the examples of Borthwick, Jonathan Humphreys, the former Wales hooker, and that outstanding Australia centre Jason Little, with whom he played at Bristol. “They were all different personalities but when it came to the crunch the best thing they could do was play well and, mentally, they set an example, to give of their best both in preparation and in games,” he said.

Meehan’s trust in Lipman’s ability to do the job has also given him a lift after suffering a summer of disappointment. He ended last season as England’s first choice at open-side flanker but, on tour in New Zealand, failed to feature in the two matches when England were comfortably beaten by the All Blacks. “I always have England in the back of my mind, I always want to play for England,” Lipman, who has seven caps, said.

“The fact that they haven’t chosen me for the senior squad \ has increased my motivation. This autumn they will pick from the top 32 but injuries occur and, come January, they will be looking to the winning sides for selection. If a side starts well, it can make their season, you feel more comfortable and confident, you’re not chasing that first win. If you lose the first few games, you feel you are operating on the back foot all the time.”

As if any additional motivation were required, Bath begin against their West Country rivals, away to Bristol tomorrow and receiving Gloucester at the Recreation Ground next weekend. But they have the benefit of familiarity and, to cover the departure of Borthwick and Barkley, they have recruited two locks, Stuart Hooper (from Leeds Carnegie) and Harrison (from Ulster), and Shontayne Hape, the rugby league centre, from Bradford Bulls.

Hape, whose skills have already been apparent in Bath’s pre-season programme, can be nursed into rugby union, Hooper is thoroughly familiar with the Premiership from his years with Saracens and Leeds, and Harrison’s ability, which earned him 34 caps for the Wallabies from 2001 to 2004, goes without saying. Now, as Lipman says, Bath have to get their bandwagon rolling.

Club information:

Head coach: Steve Meehan Co-captains: Alex Crockett, Michael Lipman Website: www.bathrugby.com Address: The Recreation Ground, Spring Gardens, Bath, BA2 6PW Telephone: 01225 325200 Tickets: 0871 7211865 Squad:

English unless stated

Internationals IN CAPITALS

Forwards -

David Barnes; Andy Beattie; DUNCAN BELL (2 caps); Daniel Browne (NZ); Nathan Catt; James Currie; Pieter Dixon; JONNY FAAMATUAINU (Samoa, 3); DAVID FLATMAN (8); Chris Goodman; DANNY GREWCOCK (69); Adrian Griffiths; JUSTIN HARRISON (Aus, 34); Rob Hawkins; Scott Hobson; Stuart Hooper; PAULICA ION (Rom, 29); Edward Jackson; Aaron Jarvis; Mark Lilley; MICHAEL LIPMAN (7); LEE MEARS (25); Billy Moss; Laurence Ovens; James Scaysbrook; Peter Short; MATT STEVENS (28).

Backs -

NICK ABENDANON (2 caps); Matt Banahan; Mike Baxter; Jack Bentall; Scott Bemand; Shaun Berne (Aus); Tom Cheeseman (Wales); MICHAEL CLAASSENS (SA, 8); Luke Cozens; Rhys Crane; Alex Crockett; Jack Cuthbert; Ryan Davis; ELIOTA FUIMAONO-SAPOLU (Samoa, 13); Shontayne Hape (NZ); Andrew Higgins; BUTCH JAMES (SA, 34); Robbie Kydd (Scot); Joe Maddock (NZ); MICHAEL STEPHENSON (3); Ben Williams.

Fixtures:

Sept 7 Bristol (A)

Sept 13 Gloucester (H)

Sept 20 London Irish (A)

Sept 27 Worcester Warriors (H)

Oct 1 London Wasps (A)

Oct 4 Leicester (H)

Oct 12 Toulouse (A)

Oct 19 Newport Gwent Dragons (H)

Oct 24 Sale Sharks (A)

Oct 31/Nov 1/2 Cardiff Blues (A)

Nov 15 Leicester (H)

Nov 22 Northampton (A)

Nov 30 Harlequins (A)

Dec 7 Glasgow (H)

Dec 14 Glasgow (A)

Dec 20 Sale Sharks (H)

Dec 27 Northampton (H)

Jan 4 Leicester (A)

Jan 10 London Wasps (H)

Jan 16/17/18 N’port Gwent Dragons (A)

Jan 23/24/25 Toulouse (H)

Feb 14 Worcester Warriors (A)

Feb 21 London Irish (H)

Feb 28 Gloucester (A)

March 7 Bristol (H)

March 15 Saracens (A)

March 21 Newcastle Falcons (H)

March 27 Sale Sharks (A)

April 4 Harlequins (H)

April 19 Newcastle Falcons (A)

April 25 Saracens (H)