GLOUCESTER

Director of Rugby: David Humphreys Captain: Willi Heinz Ground: Kingsholm Capacity: 16,115

Johan Ackermann will not be happy with a seventh place league finish in his first campaign at Gloucester, and nor will he need reminding that Bath’s win at Kingsholm late in the script showed that his side are a long way from the finished article.

This explains why the former coach of the Jo’burg Lions has parachuted five of his fellow countryman into the squad over the summer, with flanker Jaco Kriel, lock Franco Mostert, and prop Ruan Dreyer joining from his old crew, along with two other heavy-duty South Africans in hooker Franco Marais and 6ft 7ins lock Gerbrandt Grobler. Add Ackermann’s son, Ruan, to the contingent and he can field almost an entire pack from the high veld.

Like all team transplants it will prove to be either a success or an unsatisfactory graft based on results – and that will be contingent on whether another newcomer, Danny Cipriani, gets over his latest disciplinary hurdle to make the most of the ball served up by the Anglo-Bok forwards.

The existing squad has seams of quality. Ed Slater, Lewis Ludlow and Jake Polledri are rugged operators, while backs with the counter-attacking verve of Henry Trinder, Jason Woodward and Charlie Sharples suggest Gloucester could have a potent mix.

Success depends on Ackermann getting the right blend of the ingredients he now has to hand.