DERBY CLASH SEES BOTTOM AGAINST TOP
GLOUCESTER V BRISTOL:
PAT Lam has warned his tabletopping Bristol Bears side that the Gallagher Premiership standings will be irrelevant when they face the league’s basement club Gloucester Rugby this evening.
Bristol surrendered their six-game winning streak in last week’s 20-13 home loss to Sale Sharks, and will make the trip to Kingsholm itching to hit back to top form.
Argentina prop Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro will make his full Bears debut, with Luke Morahan coming into the back-line and Jake Heenan starting in the back row.
Gloucester have just one win from eight league matches this term, but Bristol director of rugby Lam, right, insists the West Country derby factor carries far more weight.
“It’s a derby game, the table is irrelevant,” said Lam. “The fact is that we’ve been in the situation where we’re near the bottom of the table and you’re playing the teams above.
“It’s Gloucester versus Bristol, there’s no motivation needed, and we expect them to come full-on at us.
“For us to cope with that it’s about making sure we get our technical things right, and that we bring that physicality as well as control.”
Gloucester head into the clash on the back of their worst league run at Kingsholm since 2016, having lost three in a row at home.
Former England number eight Ben Morgan will make his first Gloucester appearance in more than a year, having finally shaken off a lower leg injury, and boss George Skivington admitted it will boost the Cherry & Whites to have back row powerhouse in action.
“I haven’t been able to pick Ben
Morgan since I have been here,” said Skivington, who took charge of Gloucester in July.
“This is great news for the club and we are all very excited for him getting out there. We are all looking forward to seeing him back in a Gloucester shirt.”
Morgan takes a seat on the bench, alongside Santiago Socino, who will make his Gloucester debut if he joins the fray.
Val Rapava-Ruskin is among five changes to the pack as Gloucester go hunting a route back to winning ways. He starts in the front row with Henry Walker and Fraser Balmain, while locks Matt Garvey and Matias Alemanno pack down behind them.
In the back row, Jamie Gibson starts at blindside flanker with Freddie Clarke starting at number eight and Lewis Ludlow, who leads the side, wearing the seven shirt.
The backline is unchanged from the last fixture at London Irish, with Willi Heinz starting at scrum-half and Billy Twelvetrees at ten. Mark Atkinson and Henry Trinder link up in the midfield, with Ollie Thorley, Jason Woodward and Santiago Carreras in the back three.
Gloucester have named a strong bench with Giorgi Kveseladze set to follow up his fine performance on debut. Kyle Moyle, Charlie Chapman, Alex Craig, Jamal Ford-Robinson and Alex Seville are also on the bench.
Andy Uren is set to make his 100th competitive appearance for the Bears, having graduated through the Bristol Academy, while Fitz Harding is listed among the replacements for the round nine encounter.
Gloucester Rugby: J Woodward; S Carreras, H Trinder, M Atkinson, O Thorley; B Twelvetrees, W Heinz; V RapavaRuskin, H Walker, F Balmain, M Garvey, M Alemanno, J Gibson, L Ludlow (capt), F Clarke. Replacements: S Socino, A Seville, J Ford-Robinson, A Craig, B Morgan, C Chapman, G Kveseladze, K Moyle.
Bristol Bears: C Piutau; L Morahan, P O’Conor, S
Piutau, H Purdy; I Lloyd, A Uren; N Tetaz Chaparro, B Byrne, J Afoa (capt), D Attwood, C Vui, J Heenan, D Thomas, N Hughes. Replacements: W Capon, J Woolmore, J Armstrong, E Holmes, F Harding, T Kessell, S Bedlow, A Leiua.
■ George North’s hopes of winning his 100th Wales cap tomorrow have been dashed by injury.
North had been set for a third successive start at outside centre in Wales’ Guinness Six Nations clash with Scotland, but while head coach Wayne Pivac said that North had overcome the problem with his eye suffered during a 21-16 victory over Ireland last weekend, he was now sidelined by a foot injury.
“George’s eye injury that he had, he is over that, which is pleasing,” Pivac said. “He has got a foot injury, and hopefully he will be right for the England game.”
Meanwhile, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has been forced into three changes. Flanker Jamie Ritchie, centre Cameron Redpath and winger Sean Maitland all drop out through injury. Scarlets back-rower Blade Thomson, Harlequins midfielder James Lang and Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham come in.