THE trip across the Severn bridge will be a homecoming for several members of the Bath contingent.

Scrum-half Gareth Cooper and unrelated back-row colleagues Gavin and Nathan Thomas all have representative honours for Wales, while head coach Jon Callard began his career with tonight's (Friday, October 13) opponents Newport.

Gone are the days when all Welshmen stayed in Wales and all Welsh sides would be made up almost exclusively of Welshmen.

Newport's line-up includes former South African captain Gary Teichmann, Irish centre Matt Mostyn, Italian full-back Matt Pini and giant Springbok prop Adrian Garvey.

In these days of big-money signings from abroad, it is noticeable that Bath rely heavily on their home-grown players.

In last week's game against Castres, the back five and the front five were all English.

Even their imports tend to come from nearby. The Welsh trio were all signed from Bridgend, just down the road. And Callard's policy is to bring them in young.

Cooper, 21, was just 19 when he joined the club. Nathan Thomas was 20 and Gavin Thomas was 21.

The trio are all great mates, living together and forming a Celtic clique.

Cooper is looking forward to his first competitive game for Bath in his native land.

"I can't wait for the game to get started," he said. "The crowd is sold out, it is going to be a great atmosphere and it will be great going back to play in Wales.

"Newport will be tough. We have been studying them all week and they have got a good pack.

"They are probably going to target our scrum but our lads have worked very hard on it."

When he first came to The Rec, he was fourth-choice behind club captain Andy Nicol, All Black Jon Preston and Steve Hatley.

However, injuries propelled the youngster to the front of the scrum-half queue. He played in the first team for most of the 1998-99 season, and was one of the few successes in a generally disappointing season.

Cooper had to take a back seat last year when Preston, who is also the team's kicker and will probably play at fly-half tomorrow, returned to full fitness.

He was forced to sit impatiently on the bench for the first five games of this season, before being given a chance at Northampton.

He made such an impression in his 20 minutes at Franklin's Gardens that he was given a starting berth for the visit of Saracens.

In that game, he set up the first try with an electric 50-yard burst and kept his place against Castres.

Cooper is not a good spectator and he hated being a substitute.

He said: "It was very frustrating at the beginning of the season. There is nothing worse than being on the bench. It's always difficult to get back."

Cooper's early-season inactivity, and the irregular starts given to the Thomases, led Wales coach Graham Henry to criticise Bath's selection policy.

Nevertheless, Cooper already has 36 starts for Bath under his belt, not bad for someone only in his rugby infancy, and he has no regrets about joining the club.

"It's been great," said the Under-21 international. "I've been given a chance.

"I have always been desperate to play for my country and playing in the European Cup in Wales today is a great way to impress Graham Henry."

n The Bath team will not be announced until an hour before kick-off (7.05pm).