England hooker Rob Webber could make his long-awaited debut for Bath this weekend after injuring his shoulder last season.
The former Wasp joined Bath during the off-season but has yet to make an appearance after picking up his injury in March. With the worst over though, Webber could return in the LV=Cup this weekend, along with flanker Carl Fearns.
"Rob Webber and Carl Fearns are back in full training and available for selection," said Gold to the Bath Chronicle.
"I'm not sure they are both going to get selected but one of the two will, I'm sure. Rob hasn't played rugby since March. I think we are going to select him but it'll be tough for him to come up against a quality of team like Exeter.
"We know how tough Exeter can be. We've played them twice before this season and thankfully haven't lost. They are an outstanding team, a real handful.
"We are probably going to pick a team where we've got a couple of guys coming back from injury because we are struggling with a couple of other injuries.
"With Fearnsy, we have to be careful that we are not loading the team with too many players who haven't played for a while."
New signing Peter Stringer may also make his debut for the club this weekend after joining on loan from Munster.
"I don't necessarily think Pete will start but we want to get him game time as quickly as possible," added Gold.
"He's a brilliant professional, trains well, speaks well and is a good leader. He's someone who I think can add a lot of impetus to the squad.
"We've lost a stalwart in Mikey at the moment but it's wonderful to be able to replace him with someone like Pete.
"I had him at Newcastle last season and we stayed in touch. He is in the twilight of his career but he's just hungry to get out on the park. The situation will be reviewed at the end of March to see if Munster need him back.
"If they don't need him he'll stay and if they do he'll have to go back, but I'm sure by then Mikey will be back for us anyway."
Comments
APV1 says...
Just been confirmed - Webber is starting.
Posted 12:01 25th January 2013
APV1 says...
Good to see Webber fit at last.
Koster did ok last time out, didn't he?
Posted 15:32 24th January 2013
1st58 says...
Delighted Fearns is back - loouw badly needs another decent players in the back row to help him out - also hope our other saffer is ready to play?
Posted 13:23 24th January 2013