​Bath Rugby will take on last season’s defeated finalists Biarritz at The Rec in a juicy start to their forthcoming Heineken Cup campaign.

The Basque side will travel to Bath for the fixture on Sunday, October 10, it was announced today.

Away games in Europe’s blue riband competition are rarely easy, but Bath will fancy their chances when they travel to northern Italy the following weekend to take on new side Aironi.

The game will take place on Saturday, October 16 but the venue for the clash has yet to be confirmed. It is likely to be at the Stadio Giglio in Reggio Emilia, the other option being the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella in Viadana.

Back-to-back fixtures with last year’s bogey team Ulster then await, with Bath travelling to the forbidding cauldron of Ravenhill on Saturday, December 11. The return match takes place at The Rec exactly a week later.

The fifth and sixth round pool matches for the 2010-2011 Heineken Cup, which Bath won in 1998, have not yet been confirmed by the competition’s organisers, European Rugby Cup. But Bath are likely to face Aironi at The Rec over the weekend of January 14-16. A trip to Biarritz the following week would then be Bath’s final match of the group stage.

Read Tom Bradshaw's blog for his take on Bath Rugby's Heineken Cup draw