ANDY HAZELL would love to be part of the first Gloucester side to win a league match on Bath soil – but he is not allowing himself to think beyond the opening 10 minutes of today's clash.

The openside flanker will return to the Gloucester side for this afternoon's trip to the Recreation Ground after being "gutted" to miss out against Leicester last weekend.

And Hazell, who has not started a competitive match for his club since their Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Munster in April, admits he is going to be uncharacteristically nervous this afternoon.

"I am really looking forward to this game, but I am really nervous too," said Hazell, who will be making his 182nd appearance for his hometown club.

"I am going to be more nervous than I have been for a long time before a game – and that is because there is a lot of pressure on this one.

"Everyone wants to go down there, put in a good performance and get something out of the game.

"It's still early in the season, but we had a bad result last weekend and a club like Gloucester doesn't work like that. This is a big club and people expect a lot from us. Every single player knows that and every single player knows it is up to us to go out and front up."

Last weekend's 20-8 home defeat to Leicester was filed under the "unacceptable" section in head coach Dean Ryan's filing cabinet – and Hazell is one of six players brought into the side as a result.

Not that he was too pleased to be missing out on the opening game of the new Premiership campaign.

"I was gutted to miss out last week," he said. "But it's something that was done for that game and sometimes you have got to deal with things like that."

Today Hazell is back in the Gloucester No 7 shirt, back up against an old adversary in Michael Lipman – and back in the familiar position of trying to help his club to a maiden league win at the Rec.

"I have thought about winning down there and what the changing room would be like afterwards – and I think it would be awesome," said Hazell.

"But that's the last thing you can look at when you are this close to the match. We are not looking any further than the first 10 minutes of the game and keeping to our structure.

"We will try to stick to that, do what we have to do and see what happens from there. But of course it would be lovely to get a win down there.

"If it was as easy as sticking 15 good players on the pitch and getting a win, I don't think rugby would be as much fun. There is a challenge in front of us this weekend – as there is every weekend – and we are just working as a group to be the best we can."

As well as a recall for Hazell, Ryan has also brought Oliver Azam, Alex Brown, Gareth Cooper, Willie Walker and Matthew Watkins into the side for today's game.

Hazell replaces Alasdair Strokosch, while Andy Titterrell, Marco Bortolami, Rory Lawson, Ryan Lamb and the injured Anthony Allen all make way.

Former Gloucester winger James Bailey has joined London Irish.

The 26-year-old became a free agent over the summer after a planned move to French side Toulon fell through.

Irish head coach Toby Booth said: "James is a speedy and versatile winger who creates and uses space well and is an acknowledged try-scorer."