Preview: Gloucester v London Irish
Saturday will see some localised volcanic activity in Gloucester with the return of Lesley Vainikolo on the wing to face London Irish.
Saturday will see some localised volcanic activity in Gloucester with the return of Lesley Vainikolo on the wing to face London Irish.
Vainikolo has recovered from a dead leg to face the Exiles as Gloucester look to get back to winning ways in front of their home crowd and there are also welcome returns in the starting back line for Tim Molenaar and Olly Morgan.
There are also three changes up front from the side that started at Northampton last weekend with Scott Lawson, Peter Buxton and Akapusi Qera all returning.
Of note amongst the replacements is Greg Somerville who is named in the squad for the first time since suffering a fractured radius in his forearm against Sale Sharks on February 27th.
Somerville recently revealed that he will be leaving Gloucester in the summer to return home to the Southern Hemisphere so a Kingsholm farewell is on the cards.
Gloucester received four yellow cards at the Madejski Stadium in the previous meeting between the two sides this season but Head Coach Bryan Redpath didn't think there would be any needle on Saturday afternoon.
“No, there's no need to be. The game's too big for personal challenges or anything like that. We know what we need to do and it's a big game for them.”
“We know how tough they are to break down. Steffon Armitage is probably one of the key players around their side. They've got some injuries now as well which has probably hampered them a little bit.”
“But a massive challenge for us and we've got to thrive on it and set ourselves the challenge of not losing at Kingsholm.”
Meanwhile, Elvis Seveali'i and Richard Thorpe return to London Irish's starting line-up.
The Samoan international takes his usual place at outside centre while 25-year-old Thorpe comes in at number eight in the only changes to the team that played at Madejski Stadium last weekend. Ryan Lamb has recovered from a leg injury and is named among the replacements.
“We have two games left and are keeping our focus – our eyes are still firmly fixed on a play-off spot,” said London Irish Head Coach, Toby Booth.
“We've worked hard in training this week on those areas that we needed to focus on and our performance will be the better for that.
“Kingsholm is always a tough place to go, even more so tomorrow given that this is Gloucester's last home game and they will want to put on a show. Their current position means the pressure is off them,” Booth added.
Form: London Irish won 40-10 at Madejski Stadium when the two teams met in September. The Exiles have only ever won once at Kingsholm in the Premiership: 13-9 on 28 January 2006. The last eight games played by Gloucester Rugby in the Guinness Premiership have all been won by the home side on the day. Gloucester are unbeaten in their last ten matches at Kingsholm in all competitions since Cardiff Blues won there in the LV= Cup on 8 November. London Irish lie in 5th place in the Guinness Premiership table despite winning just three of their last nine games in the competition. The Exiles did win their most recent away game: 23-13 at Worcester on 10 April.
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Tim Molenaar, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Adam Eustace, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Greg Somerville, 19 Will James,20 Alasdair Strokosch, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 23 Freddie Burns
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 John Rudd, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Richard Thorpe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Kieran Roche, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 James Tideswell, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 George Stowers, 21 Tom Homer, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Ryan Lamb.
Date: Saturday, April 24
Venue: Kingsholm
Kick-off: 15.00 BST
Referee: Sean Davey