A SKELETON Bath side ravaged by international call-ups simply must win on Sunday, November 19 if they are to keep their season alive beyond Christmas.

Jon Callard's men are out of the Tetley's Bitter Cup and clinging on by their fingernails in the Heineken Cup, so a good run in the league is vital.

The Zurich Premiership is back after a gap of eight weeks, but the fixtures are being shunted out of the headlines by all the international action.

England take on Australia in the eagerly-anticipated clash at Twickenham tomorrow, while Ireland, Wales and Scotland are also playing.

Bath's squad has contributed six men to the Red Rose cause, and they also lose number eight Dan Lyle to the USA team.

Kevin Maggs played for Ireland A in midweek and confusion still surrounds the availability of Gareth Cooper and Gavin Thomas, who are required for training sessions with the Wales A squad.

Even if Maggs and the Welsh duo make the starting line-up, it will still be a decimated Bath team who bid to banish memories of their opening-day defeat at Heywood Road by extracting full points from Sale.

However, the absences could even be beneficial to the club in the long run, as they give Callard the opportunity to give first-team experience to some of the promising youngsters coming through at the Rec.

Robust flanker and club captain Ben Clarke will be there to lead from the front. He does not feel that Bath's preparations have been disrupted by the call-ups.

"We knew we were going to be confronted by this problem when the internationals came up," he said. "So it has not been a difficulty.

"It is a great opportunity for the other players who have not played so much, including the younger ones.

"We have got quite a large squad, and there are a lot of good players. I am confident in those guys and I am looking forward to it."

The 32-year-old blindside is determined to get back to winning ways after the setback against Gloucester.

He said: "We were incredibly disappointed at losing to Gloucester. We took time out, refocussed the squad and had some soul-searching sessions.

"We have been working on our ball-retention, which was poor, and on tightening up our defence.

"The frustrating thing is that we can play like we did against Munster one week and then not the following week. There have been questions asked, and I hope we can answer them."

Bath have only lost one more game than Premiership front-runners Saracens, so they are well in contention for the league title.

Convincing wins in their next two games against Sale and Rotherham would see them storm up the table.

However, Sale Sharks pulled off a major surprise when they defeated Bath 33-32 in August. Since then, they have been strengthened by signings from rugby league, and they have not lost any players to the internationals.

The West Country side have found Sale something of a bogey team, losing to them three times in the last three years.

Clarke admitted that Bath had no complaints at losing in Manchester.

He said: "They deserved to win. They played all the rugby. But this is a home game, and it is important that we win.

"It is the same as any other league game, with five points at stake.

"We are going into a period of three very important matches, and we will have to see where we are after that."

Clarke has 40 England caps to his name, and was the outstanding British Lion on the victorious 1992 tour of New Zealand, but his international days appear to be over and he is intent on guiding Bath to glory.

He denies having any pangs of envy watching some of his Rec colleagues go off to take on the Aussies.

He said: "There's no envy. I had my time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's great that there are so many Bath players in the squad.

"I hope Steve Borthwick gets on and gets capped. It's a very special occasion for him. He is the in-form line-out player, he has worked very hard, and he deserves his chance."