Preview: Gloucester v Leeds Carnegie

Editor

Summer signing Brett Deacon will make his first senior start for Gloucester against Leeds Carnegie at Kingsholm on Saturday.

Summer signing Brett Deacon will make his first start for a wounded Gloucester side against Leeds Carnegie at Kingsholm on Saturday.

Deacon's appearance is one of five changes made as the hosts look to bounce back from last weekend's opening day defeat at Exeter Chiefs.

Further changes see Charlie Sharples come in for Olly Morgan at full-back and Rory Lawson return at scrum-half.

Alasdair Dickinson is named at loosehead with Nick Wood moving to the replacements bench and Andy Hazell gets the nod at open side.

“Monday was tough because we reviewed the unedited video and went through the errors and mistakes. It needed to be looked at and it was pretty honest. Everyone has had their say,” said boss Bryan Redpath.

“There was some frustration but we have to move onwards and upwards. Training has been good this week, quite lively and we need to see a reaction this weekend and kick off the season properly.

“I'm interested in our performance. If we get that right then we can beat anybody. We have to challenging in attack and aggressive in defence. Our core basics need to be better. We need to impose our game on them.

“But talk is cheap and it will be tough. They're an error free side who play very good set piece and are good in the contact area. We'll have to be smart.

“It's a tough league and you can't disrespect anyone. Leeds will be no pushover, they're a dangerous outfit. But we need to get our performance right and the result will take care of itself.”

Meanwhile, Leeds Carnegie make five changes to the side that lost to Bath on the opening day of the season for this trip to Kingsholm.

Two of the changes come in the backs with Scott Barrow replacing the injured Lachlan MacKay at inside centre whilst Christian Lewis-Pratt comes in for his Aviva Premiership debut having signed from Saints during the summer and impressed in Monday's Aviva A League win over Worcester.

The other three switches come in the pack with USA prop Mike MacDonald replacing Miguel Alonso, who moves to the bench, and Phil Swainston replacing the injured Juan Gomez. Finally, Alfie To'oala starts this week at blindside flanker with Kearnan Myall amongst the replacements.

Young outside back James Tincknell could make his Leeds and Aviva Premiership Rugby debut off the bench. Tincknell only returned to playing rugby two seasons ago with Old Otliensians having had a promising career as a professional cricketer cut short however after impressing in pre-season and with a try against Worcester in the Aviva A League on Monday night, he has earned a call up to the first team.

Form: Gloucester have won their last six encounters with Leeds, whilst the Yorkshiremen's only previous victory at Kingsholm was 33-15 on 9 April 2005. Gloucester tripped up to Aviva Premiership Rugby new boys Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on Saturday. Gloucester have not begun a season with successive losses since 2000/01, and are unbeaten at Kingsholm in any competition since Cardiff Blues won there in the Anglo-Welsh Cup on 8 November. Leeds Carnegie were defeated at home to Bath on Sunday and in fact have not won any games in rounds one or two of the Premiership since 2002/03. Leeds have won just one of their last four away matches: 23-13 at London Irish on 18 April.

The teams:

Gloucester: 15 Charlie Sharples, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Pierre Capdevielle, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Will James, 20 Peter Buxton, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Taylor, 23 Tim Molenaar.

Leeds Carnegie: 15 Michael Stephenson, 14 Lee Blackett, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Scott Barrow, 11 Semi Tadulala, 10 Christian Lewis Pratt, 9 Scott Mathie, 8 Daniel Browne, 7 Hendre Fourie, 6 Alfie Tooala, 5 Marco Wentzel (capt), 4 Tom Denton, 3 Phil Swainston, 2 Andrew Titterrell, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 Gareth Hardy, 18 Miguel Alonso, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Rhys Oakley, 21 Warren Fury, 22 James Tincknell, 23 Leigh Hinton.

Date: Saturday, September 11
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Venue: Kingsholm
Referee: David Rose