Bath, once the undisputed kings of English cup rugby, have not reached a Twickenham final since 1996 and this is a barren spell full-back Matt Perry is keen to end with victory over Wasps in the last-four of the Zurich Championship.

England international Perry, who has been selected for this summer's Lions tour to Australia, has never featured for Bath in a domestic cup final but believes now is the time for that unwanted piece of history to be rewritten.

"Getting to the final would mean everything really," said Perry, who was instrumental in guiding Bath to third place in the Premiership table this season. People talk about the play-offs being a meaningless competition but the fact
is we are only one game away from a cup final at Twickenham. That is something special for the players and the supporters. Bath have not been to Twickenham for a long time. The last time was back in the Pilkington Cup days. If we could get through this weekend against Wasps, it would be very special."

But Perry acknowledges his side face a tall order tomorrow if they are to get past Nigel Melville's rejuvenated Wasps side. The Londoners overcame a slow start to the season to claim, second spot in the Premiership, securing themselves a home draw for the semi-finals. "Wasps are a top side,"said Perry, who helped Bath into the last four of the play-offs with victory over Newcastle Falcons. They won their last five games to finish second in the league so it shows they are in-form.

"We have been watching videos of their recent games and they have improved a lot since we last played them. It is going to be a tough game with a big crowd up there. We seem to play well at Loftus Road which is a good omen but we still have to be on top of our game if we are going to win. Our preparations have been going well. We had a good last couple of weeks and the boys are looking forward to the game. Spirits are high and even though we didn't play that well against Newcastle last weekend, we have been working hard to get better."

Perry believes a place in the Zurich Championship final will go some way to compensating for Bath's early exit from both the European Cup and the Tetley's Bitter Cup. "It has been a reasonable season for us but there have been some disappointments," he said. "In the space of just three weeks we went out of the European Cup and the
Tetley's Bitter Cup - we thought our season was dead and buried. But we have done well to come back and forge third place in the league and a semi-final play-off spot. But a win in the final would be the best way to end the season.

"Our team is still learning, but I think there is great things to come from this young side and we might see it in the next couple of weeks."Ben Clarke will return to the Bath side after serving a one-match suspension for picking up three yellow cards. Lions duo Rob Henderson and Phil Greening have been given spots in the Wasps' starting line-up following their inclusion on the bench in the Londoners' quarter-final win over Gloucester last weekend. Hooker Trevor Leota and centre Fraser Waters are named as substitutes while Peter Scrivener has been called up to the squad to replace Mark Lock.