Stuart Hooper has now experienced pressure at both ends of the Guinness Premiership – and is relishing the fight for top honours.

The Bath lock fought several relegation battles during his time at Leeds, but is now firmly involved in the race for the Premiership title.

Fourth-placed Bath host second-placed London Irish at the Recreation Ground tomorrow – and England Saxons lock Hooper is enjoying every minute of the push for a top-four finish.

He left Leeds following their relegation from the top flight last summer – and has appeared in 20 of Bath's 21 matches so far this term.

"I'm loving it here. It's great to be winning and there is an awesome feel at the club at the moment," said the 27-year-old.

"Being at the top of the table brings massive pressure, but it's a different kind of pressure. It's difficult to quantify, but often at Leeds we were playing in games where if we lost, we knew we were likely to be relegated.

"Now the pressure is completely different – if you keep winning, you are going to finish top of the league or at least in the top four.

"The pressure is equal at both ends, but it's a very, very different kind – and this type is much better.

"In the past, maybe I've gone out and tried not to lose a game, but here we try to win every game.

"I didn't come here for an easy time. I came here to be challenged in training, to be challenged to get into the team and then challenged to win major trophies.

"I want to win the Premiership and I want to win the Heineken Cup – and I'm not going to hide that. That's why I came to Bath."

Bath were 34-17 winners at Worcester last weekend, while Irish suffered a rare home defeat against Harlequins, going down 14-9 at the Madejski Stadium.

And with the clubs vying for one of the crucial top four places, Hooper expects a tense game tomorrow.

"Saturday's game is absolutely huge," he said. "London Irish come here on the back of losing at home to Harlequins last weekend – and they have a very proud home record so that will have hurt them.

"It's so competitive at the top of the table but you've got to look at yourselves and then league positions and all the rest of it will take care of themselves."

And having triumphed with a four-try bonus point at Sixways six days ago, Bath head coach Steve Meehan is eager for his players to build momentum as they head into next weekend's derby against Gloucester at Kingsholm.

"We gained five points last week and it's important that we double that up and get another win under our belts this weekend," said Meehan.

"Winning your matches at home is vital in this competition – and picking up some on the road is the difference between mid-table and finishing in the semi-finals.

"We've done nicely on the road this season and we've slipped up once at home. We need to ensure that's the only time we slip up, so this is an important game for us."