Seabrook starts alongside senior man Henry

HENRY Trinder will relish the role of ‘minder’ today as Gloucester launch their challenge to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2008.

A Challenge Cup win in 2015 followed by a final appearance two years ago cannot disguise Gloucester’s poor record in Europe’s premier competition.

Trinder is determined to change all that as he forms a new centre partnership with up-and-coming Tom Seabrook as his side aims to sink Lyon’s all-stars.

Trinder said: “It’s a very hard competition but this is where we need to show the strength of our squad, we’re looking forward to it.

“We’ve got guys like Tom who haven’t played a lot so they’ll be very energised and hopefully we can starve Lyon of ball and get our own attack moving.

“Lyon have got some very talented individuals who, like most French teams, they’ll look to use as much as possible. In terms of attacking threats, they’ve got powerful guys like Charlie Ngatai who can offload if you let him and that can be hard to stop, and wingers like Josua Tuisova who are special individuals.

“If they get on the front foot they can hurt you, but we pride ourselves on our line speed. We’ll be more structured and look to defend well and stay in it.”