Vellacott wary of Gloucester

Ben Vellacott is familiar enough with Gloucester to know they will be hurting badly when they arrive in Scotland to take on Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup tomorrow.

The West Country club’s 17-10 loss to Bath at the weekend was their ninth successive Premiership defeat, their worst run of league results in the competition’s history.

Vellacott, the Edinburgh scrum-half, began his pro career at Gloucester and still keeps in touch with his former team-mates. He believes theclubarebetterthanrecent results suggest, a claim given added weight by their Europeanform:gloucesteraretop of Pool 3, three points above Edinburgh, after winning their opening two games.

“I have watched a lot of

Gloucester’s games this season, I always keep an eye on their results,” said Vellacott. “They’ve got a place in my heart as I grew up there and they gave me the chance to play professional rugby when nobody else did so I’m looking forward to playing against them at the weekend.

“They just lost to Bath but that is a tough place to go and Bath are an in-form team. You can't write anybody off in the Prem because it’s an incredible league from top to bottom. They will be a desperate team and want to win so we can’t take them lightly.”

The match is already a sellout. Edinburgh Rugby, meanwhile, have announced a partnership with the University of Edinburgh which will see the two institutions work together closely on player recruitment, development, education and coaching, and to enhance the university’s rugby programme.