BATH have something of a hoodoo over Bristol.

They have never lost to them in 18 league meetings since the Premiership was formed in 1987.

However, there has rarely been more than a score between the teams in games played in Bristol, and the hosts will fancy their chances of breaking their long duck tomorrow.

Jon Callard's men have steadied themselves with two victories since the Tetley's Cup exit at the hands of Gloucester, but the head coach knows that home wins over Sale and Rotherham will count for little in the cauldron in the Memorial Ground.

Bath are again hampered by the loss of their five-strong England contingent, while their West County rivals are largely unaffected by the internationals.

Bristol welcome back their trio of Argentinian internationals who played at Twickenham last week, and they should be much improved from their lacklustre performance at Northampton last week, where they lost 24-6.

The absence of the England men has allowed Callard to blood some of his talented youngsters.

Tom Voyce is one such player who has grasped his opportunity with both hands.

The 19-year-old full-back made his first start for the club against Sale, and after a nervous opening few minutes, set The Rec alight with a scorching burst from inside his own half that led to a try.

He followed that up with a faultless performance in the defeat of Rotherham a week later, showing that he has no problem stepping up a level from the reserves to first-team rugby.

Voyce is an unassuming Cornishman who knows that he is in a difficult position.

Regular full-back Matt Perry is widely acknowledged as the best number 15 in Europe, so however well Voyce plays against Bristol, he faces an impossible task to keep the England man out of the Bath starting line-up.

"It's a tricky situation," he said. "When you've got the likes of Perry and Balshaw there, you think, where are you going to break in?

"But I can also play on the wing, and Adedayo Adebayo is retiring at the end of the year, so there could be an opportunity for me.

"When I found out about the international matches, I was excited and I thought it would be a time to make a name for myself at Bath and hopefully start to break into the first team more regularly.

"Hopefully, when the internationals come back, there will still be a place for me. If not, it will make me even more hungry to fight for a place."

Voyce is expecting to be fully tested by Bristol, who will doubtless target him early on.

"I think they'll put a few high balls up at the beginning of the game," he said. "But hopefully I'll settle in early.

"Bristol have got a big pack. They will pick and go and take it up and kick to the corners. We've trained this week to stop them doing that. We will try to play away from their pack.

"Bristol have never beaten Bath in the league, and that puts pressure on our team. They really fancy their chances with all our internationals out."

Voyce admits that he was nervous in the opening exchanges of his debut against Sale.

He said: "It was a huge game and my first start. I knew they were going to test me out and a couple of kicks didn't go to the right places and I was a bit unsettled.

"But I knew that was going to happen and as long as I didn't let that affect me I would be all right.

"I got a good run early on, and when I set up Ben Clarke's try, that really brought confidence into me."

In his second start, against Rotherham, he had to contend with the presence of Perry on the bench.

Perry had been rested by England for the Argentina game and was named as a substitute by Callard, ready to come on 'in case of emergencies.'

Voyce, who sees himself as an attacking full-back in the Christian Cullen mould, could have read that as a message telling him that if he didn't play well, he would be hauled off.

However, he tried not to let it affect him.

He said: "It was in the back of my mind that I might play only half a game, but I spoke to Jon Callard and he told me to just block it out and play my own game.

"It was good that Matt didn't come on, because it meant I wasn't doing anything wrong. I was pleased about that."

Everything has been rosy for the teenager in his first two starts. However, he and his team-mates know that things will be very different in front of a packed, partisan Memorial Ground crowd tomorrow.

As he says: "Rotherham were quite a weak side. Bristol are going to be a different kettle of fish."