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It has been six years since an English team triumphed in the Investec Champions Cup but a pair of former England captains believe Bath can stop the rot.

Crowned champions of England last season after a 29-year wait, the West Country side are leading the Gallagher PREM again this year following Sunday’s away win at Saracens.

And despite being drawn in a tough pool in the Champions Cup, both Chris Robshaw and Lawrence Dallaglio have backed Bath to cause a stir in Europe this season.

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For Robshaw, who won the Challenge Cup during his time at Harlequins, Bath’s depth puts them in position to compete with the French giants and Leinster, who have monopolised the latter stages of the competition in recent seasons.

In fact, teams from the Top 14 have lifted the trophy in each of the last five seasons, but with the world ’s best tighthead Thomas du Toit in their formidable pack, Robshaw believes now is the season where Bath can spring a surprise.

“Those big guys, in a World Team of the Year, don’t come around too often. To have Du Toit (who is returning to South Africa with the Sharks next season) there and to be interchangeable with Will Stuart, that is a luxury that they won’t be able to have next year,” said Robshaw, who is part of the TV team delivering the Champions and Challenge Cup for Premier Sports this season.

“If they can replace like-for-like, I’d be surprised. You think this is their year, the age of their squad.

“All of a sudden, you think, if not this squad, then when?

“You look at this Bath squad on paper and it looks like it could compete with a French giant, a South African giant or whoever. But it comes down to the knockout stages, are they playing at home? They have got to get this group stage right.”

Bath lifted the Challenge Cup last season after making a mess of the Champions Cup pool stages, losing their opening fixture at home to La Rochelle, before a weakened side slipped up away to Benetton in Italy.

That left them too much ground to make up in qualifying for the knockout stages, and Dallaglio, a two-time Champions Cup winner with Wasps, has urged the team to get it right from the off this time around.

Bath, once again find themselves in a challenging group, kicking off at home to a rejuvenated Munster before a trip to another European heavyweight in Toulon, meaning that anything other than their best could see them playing catch-up once more.

“I put the curse on Bath last year. But I do think this year, they are English champions now so the natural next step is to go and challenge for more silverware and have the belief that they can go and become champions of Europe,” said Dallaglio, who is also part of the Premier Sports line-up.

“You can’t look past the heavyweights in France because of the salaries and squad depth but if there is to be a serious challenge from England, I think Bath are the ones to provide that, not just because of the quality of their squad but also the depth.

“It’s a competition played over five or six months and you have to have a team at the end of the season as well as at the beginning of the season.

“Hopefully Bath will have learned from their mistakes last season, the opening day loss to La Rochelle but also the careless leakage of points in Italy that cost them qualification. This is a competition where you have to say right from the off that we are going to win it. Look at Toulouse and Bordeaux, they pick their strongest XV every single day, home and away.”

Big Games. Bigger Moments. Premier Sports is the home of Investec Champions Cup rugby across the UK and Ireland with every match live including 21 EPCR Challenge Cup games and all the knock-out stages and Finals. Visit premiersports.com to join in from just £11.99 a month @ PremSports.tv