JUSTIN HARRISON was a late starter to rugby – and he plans to be a late finisher.

Bath's Australian lock, who made an impressive debut for the club in last weekend's 33-20 win at Bristol, did not take up the game until sports registration day at his university. He was 20 by that point – and seven years later he won the first of 34 Test caps for the Wallabies.

Fourteen years after first picking up a rugby ball, the second-row forward is still going strong as he prepares to face Gloucester in the Guinness Premiership this afternoon.

And Harrison says he will be the only judge when it comes to knowing when the time is right to hang up his scrum-cap.

"Age is relative – I was a late starter to rugby so I'll be a late finisher," said Harrison.

"A lot of these blokes have been playing rugby a lot longer than me – and they are younger than me. I started when I was 20 and didn't start professional rugby until my mid-20s.

"I was chasing girls and trying to drink as many vodkas as I could before then!

"For me it's about making sure the enjoyment factor is there, but also that the intensity and the product I'm putting on the field are still there.

"I need to be proud of what I'm doing on the field – and I also need my team-mates to be aware of it. When I start going through a game making up the numbers, then I will retire. At the moment I am still contributing enough to be proud of it and to make a difference.

"World rugby now is a great product and we are getting some great athletes coming through – so to be a part of that is a lot of fun. The body is reacting a little slower now and then, but for me it's about making sure I'm not just showing up and going through the motions."

Harrison's display in last weekend's derby victory was such that Bath hardly missed the injured Danny Grewcock, ruled out for two months with a bicep injury.

And the Bath No 4 is relishing today's fixture for many reasons – it is his home debut, another big derby clash and a match against last season's Premiership table-toppers.

"There's no point saying this is just another match, because it's not," he said.

"It's a derby match in every sense of the word. Gloucester are hugely passionate rivals of Bath, as are Bristol.

"The challenge you are faced with is welcoming that aspect of it, rather than being fearful of it or making it isn't something it isn't. Every time I run onto a field I challenge myself, but I am not overawed by it.

"I think Gloucester will be equally as passionate and physical as Bristol.

"People think that when the marquee games come along they need to find some new skill level or level of intensity – but that is not the case at all.

"We don't need to go up a notch at all, we just need to be more consistent in what we've been training to do.

"This week it will be about being more consistent, not about finding another notch that isn't there.

"People confuse big games with having to find some new-found talent or running in and scoring from 50 metres with a chip and chase. You have to forget about the distractions and get on with your job."

One of the distractions surrounding today's game is Bath's proud record of never having lost a league match against Gloucester at the Rec. Harrison, unsurprisingly, is taking little notice.

"All that means is that they are getting closer to winning one," he said. "The longer those records go on, the closer you come to breaking them. Those sort of things are for commentators and people to talk about outside the game – but it means nothing to me. It's the first time I've played Gloucester at Bath so I'm on a clean slate."

Skipper Michael Lipman comes into the Bath side at the expense of James Scaysbrook, while David Flatman is preferred to David Barnes at loosehead prop.