Premiership: Internationals return to aid Gloucester in their fight for a top-four place
Gloucester's Chris Harris (right) is tackled by Harlequins' Joe Marchant (left) during the Gallagher Premiership match at Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester. Picture date: Sunday January 2, 2022.
Gloucester have been boosted by returning internationals for their Premiership clash against Worcester Warriors on Friday.
Chris Harris, Mark Atkinson, Adam Hastings and Val Rapava-Ruskin all return to the line-up with Ben Morgan and Louis Rees-Zammit set to appear off the bench.
Kyle Moyle keeps his spot at full-back with Santiago Carreras and Ollie Thorley on the wings. Harris and Atkinson start together in the midfield for the first time since the Challenge Cup clash with Perpignan. Hastings returns at fly-half with Ben Meehan starting at nine.
In the forwards, Rapava-Ruskin will scrum down with Santiago Socino and Fraser Balmain in the front-row with Freddie Clarke and Matias Alemanno at lock. Jordy Reid, Ruan Ackermann and captain, Lewis Ludlow, make up the back-row.
There is an exciting list of replacements with Morgan set to make his first Cherry and White appearance since they hosted Bristol in early December.
Illness and Covid disruptions for Worcester
Meanwhile, loosehead prop Lewis Holsey will make his first start for the Warriors in Friday’s Premiership match against Gloucester.
The 21-year-old, who had a spell on loan at Hartpury in the Championship earlier this season, has made five appearances off the bench so far, the latest at Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership Rugby Cup last Saturday.
With a number of players ruled out this weekend by illness or Covid-19, Holsey comes into the starting XV as one of three changes to the side that beat Exeter in Warriors’ last Premiership outing two weeks ago.
Will Chudley will start at scrum-half, taking the place of Willi Heinz who has returned to New Zealand since he started against Exeter two weeks ago.
Kyle Hatherell has recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained at Sale Sharks six weeks ago and comes into the back-row at blindside flanker.
The bench includes academy loosehead prop Ben Murphy whose only senior appearance came as a replacement in the Premiership Rugby Cup victory over Gloucester at Sixways in December.
Caleb Montgomery, who has been recalled from a loan spell with Cornish Pirates, is set for his first Premiership appearance of the season having made his seasonal debut in the cup last week.
Gareth Simpson has recovered from illness and has been named among the replacements.
Form: Gloucester Rugby have won only one of their last four Gallagher Premiership Rugby matches: 35-30 at home to Northampton in Round 19. Gloucester have lost just once at Kingsholm in any competition since October: 17-20 to Harlequins in Premiership Rugby on 2 January. Worcester Warriors beat Exeter Chiefs 35-31 at Sixways in Round 20 and have not won successive Premiership matches since September 2020. Worcester have won just once away from home in any competition since September 2020: 36-26 against Zebre in Parma in the European Challenge Cup in January. Excluding unplayed games, Gloucester have won their last four fixtures against Worcester in Premiership Rugby since Worcester’s 27-20 win at Sixways in April 2019. Worcester’s only victory at Kingsholm in Premiership Rugby was in April 2009.
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Kyle Moyle, 14 Santiago Carreras, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Jordy Reid, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Santiago Socino, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 18 Bryan O’Connor, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit
Worcester: 15 Noah Heward, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Oli Morris, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Perry Humphreys, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Ted Hill (c), 6 Kyle Hatherell, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Joe Batley, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Lewis Holsey
Replacements: 16 Isaac Miller, 17 Ben Murphy, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Caleb Montgomery, 20 Jack Forsythe, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Seb Atkinson
Date: Friday, March 25
Venue: Kingsholm
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Paul Dix
TMO: Dan Jones
READ MORE: Sione Vailanu joins Glasgow from Worcester