Glasgow face McGeechan's Bath to open Heineken Cup

FORMER Scotland coach Sir Ian McGeechan will launch a bid to emulate the current Scotland coach Andy Robinson in Glasgow in November, when he brings his Bath team to the city to begin his pursuit of another Heineken Cup triumph.

McGeechan joined Bath as performance director last summer, but his title was soon changed to director of rugby and, after the club parted ways with head coach Steve Meehan at the end of the season, McGeechan was effectively handed the reins as head coach.

The former Scotland stand-off/centre left Northampton to return as Scotland coach just before the English side became Heineken Cup champions with a squad he had put together, while Wasps won the cup during his four-year spell as director of rugby after his return south of the Border.

Robinson's greatest club success came in 1997-8, when he steered Bath to the Heineken Cup with a 19-18 final victory over Brive in Bordeaux. His captain that year was Scot Andy Nicol, and they had beaten Scottish opposition in the shape of the Borders en route to the knockout stages.

The Heineken Cup fixtures were announced yesterday and Bath's opening match will be at Firhill on a Sunday - Glasgow's first three matches in the competition are early on Sunday afternoons - where McGeechan will pit his wits against another ex-Scotland centre in Sean Lineen.

After kicking off against Bath, Glasgow then head to Leinster, with back-to-back matches against Montpellier in December. Led now by Irish coach Michael Bradley, Edinburgh open away to London Irish, where they will meet up with former scrum-half Ross Samson, who headed south in the summer.