MIKE Ford believes the clash of styles likely to be on show at the Rec tonight is what makes the Premiership the exciting watch it is.

The expansive easy-on-the-eye appoach of Ford’s Bath comes up against the hard-nosed and hugely successful Saracens formula under the lights, with Bath’s head coach determined his side want to lay down another significant marker in their progress.

Perennial table-toppers last year, Saracens were only toppled in the last play of the Premiership final by Northampton and their no-nonsense style has seen them become arguably the top-flight’s most consistent side.

While Ford may take a different view on how to approach the game, he nevertheless respects the form and success enjoyed by tonight’s opponents.

“I think that’s good for the league,’’ he said, referring to differing styles.

“They have the way they play, we have our way, so do Harlequins and Exeter and maybe it’s different again for Northampton.

“There’s no secret formula and it’s not that anybody is right and everyone else is wrong.

“We’re still growing what we are trying to do, but we’ve got the owner (Bruce Craig), the fans and, importantly, the players to buy into it.

“They (Saracens) do it their way and we do it a certain way – the Bath way.’ “They’ve played well against us in recent performances.

“They snuffed us out defensively, but we feel we’ve moved on from that.

“It’s about time we were laying down markers and prove we can beat these sides in really big games when it matters.’’