Preview: Gloucester v Leeds
Gloucester will look to consolidate their Guinness Premiership play-off position when they host Leeds Carnegie at Kingsholm on Saturday, while the visitors need a win to avoid relegation.
Gloucester will look to consolidate their Guinness Premiership play-off position when they host Leeds Carnegie at Kingsholm on Saturday, while the visitors need a win to avoid relegation.
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan has made changes to the line-up that beat Saracens last weekend.
Alasdair Dickinson will make his first Guinness Premiership start at loosehead prop in place of Nick Wood and Olivier Azam returns at hooker. It will be the Frenchman's first start since Gloucester's 30-25 defeat against Harlequins in March.
Will James comes in at lock for Alex Brown following a series of high energy performances from the bench and he will partner skipper Marco Bortolami.
There is also a change in the back row where Gareth Delve starts at number eight in place of Luke Narraway. Delve, a powerful contributor in Gloucester's 39-15 win over Saracens, starts his first game since defeat against Bristol in February.
The only other change comes at scrum-half where Gareth Cooper will partner Ryan Lamb at half-back.
“We have taken on and appreciated some lessons in the last fortnight and we now know that if we make mistakes we will get punished in the coming weeks,” said Ryan.
“Complacency will not be a problem – we cannot afford it to be when there is so much at stake at this stage of the season. There were certain parts of the season where I would have liked us to cope better but we are in a good position and it's our job to strengthen it.
“It has been a bruising few weeks, the games have been of huge intensity, but we need to retain our focus and determination and put together another good performance – it is in our hands.”
Meanwhile, Leeds Metropolitan University student Scott Armstrong is set to make his Guinness Premiership debut for Leeds.
Armstrong, who is originally from Lancaster, has made two first team appearances this season in the EDF Energy Cup games against Saracens and Bristol and also played for England students this season. He is in the final year of his BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science degree and has been part of the club's academy structure since 2003.
James Parkes will start at hooker against his former club whilst Mark Lock will start at number eight. Leeds Carnegie will be without twelve first team players for the trip to Gloucester through injury whilst Adam Balding is unable to play against his former club due to the terms of his loan deal between the two clubs, and Apo Satala is away with the British Army playing in South Africa.
Another former Gloucester player, Jon Goodridge, is amongst the replacements.
Gloucester will do their bit for Breast Cancer Care in the 'Tackled Pink' weekend across the Guinness Premiership.
Women can purchase tickets for all the games at a special price of £15, with £4.25 of every ticket going directly to Breast Cancer Care.
Kingsholm will be decorated with pink flowers, balloons and ribbons, there will be a jewellery stand in the Shogun bar, a chance to win a signed Gloucester ball in a competition, Express Pink manicures will be offering their services before the game and there will also be a chance to meet some of the senior players.
At half-time, four ladies will race around the pitch to help raise awareness for the campaign, and special pink cocktails will be served in the bars.
Form: Gloucester Rugby head the Guinness Premiership table despite winning just two of their last five matches: at home to London Irish and Saracens. Gloucester's only home Premiership defeat since May 2006 was 13-20 to Leicester on 9 February. If Leeds Carnegie do not win this game they will be relegated – their only two Guinness Premiership victories so far this season have been at home to Worcester and Newcastle, whilst Leeds haven't won away from home in the Premiership since a visit to Bath on 25 November 2005. Gloucester won 49-24 when the two teams met at Headingley Carnegie on the opening weekend of the season. Leeds have won just once at Kingsholm: 33-15 in the Premiership on 9 April 2005.
Gloucester: 15 Willie Walker, 14 Iain Balshaw, 13 James Simpson-Daniel, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Gareth Cooper, 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Olivier Azam, 3 Carlos Nieto, 4 Will James, 5 Marco Bortolami (c), 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Akapusi Qera, 8 Gareth Delve.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Jack Forster, 18 Alex Brown, 19 Peter Buxton, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Olly Morgan.
Leeds: 15 Leigh Hinton, 14 Scott Armstrong, 13 Rob Vickerman, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 John Holtby, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Joe Bedford, 8 Mark Lock, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Rhys Oakley, 5 Stuart Hooper (c), 4 Pablo Bouza, 3 Fosi Pala'amo, 2 James Parkes, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements: 16 Adam Hopcroft, 17 Vili Ma'asi, 18 Erik Lund, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Darren Edwards, 21 James Brooks, 22 Jon Goodridge.
Date: Saturday April 19
Venue: Kingsholm
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Martin Fox
Touch judges: Robin Goodliffe, Ashyley Reay
Assessor: Brian Leigh
Television match official: Laurie Bryant