Bath have been dealt a blow ahead of their Investec Champions Cup clash with La Rochelle after England scrum-half Ben Spencer was replaced in the starting team.

Spencer had been picked to start the game in the number nine jersey for Friday’s opening match of the tournament, which will take place at the Recreation Ground.

However, Bath released a statement on Friday just over two hours before kick off that scrum-half Spencer will not feature this evening for Johann van Graan’s in-form outfit.

Spencer out

The update revealed that Louis Schreuder will come into the starting line-up at the base with Tom Carr-Smith taking his place on the replacements bench for the tough fixture.

Severe wind and rain is expected to impact the fixture as the United Kingdom braces itself for awful conditions, so both outfits will no doubt be eager to keep things simple.

Spencer isn’t the only England international missing for the Champions Cup opener as centre Ollie Lawrence was not named in the club’s original announcement on Thursday.

Lawrence’s absence means that Will Butt retains the number 12 jersey, with Scotland international Cameron Redpath returning the starting team at outside centre tonight.

Will Muir, Joe Cokanasiga and Tom de Glanville also retain their positions across the backline while Finn Russell will be keen to master the difficult conditions from fly-half.

Keeping his pack the same as last week, Van Graan has named Thomas du Toit at loosehead prop, with Tom Dunn at hooker and Will Stuart in the tighthead position.

Quinn Roux and Charlie Ewels will link up as the second-row combination while Ted Hill is selected as the blindside flanker alongside two of last weekend’s try-scorers, Guy Pepper (openside) and Miles Reid (number eight), who complete the starting forwards.

The teams

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Cameron Redpath, 12 Will Butt, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Miles Reid, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Thomas du ToitReplacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Max Ojomoh, 23 Jaco Coetzee

La Rochelle: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 UJ Seuteni, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Grégory Alldritt (c), 7 Matthias Haddad, 6 Oscar Jegou, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Thomas Lavault, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 Reda WardiReplacements: 16 Quentin Lespiaucq, 17 Louis Penverne, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Levani Botia, 21 Thomas Berjon, 22 Hugo Reus, 23 Teddy Thomas

Venue: Recreation Ground

Kick-off: 20:00 GMT

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)

Assistant Referees: Ben Breakspear (IRFU), Gwyn Morris (IRFU)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)