By Noah Woodland
Gloucester Rugby are in the hunt for their first trophy since the 2014/15 European Challenge cup win and have the chance to reach a final if they can overcome current champions Exeter Chiefs at Kingsholm later today.
Head coach George Skivington’s side were knocked out by the now folded Worcester Warriors at this point of the tournament in 2022, and will be looking to at least go one better to put things right and make the final of the tournament, which is set to take place on the weekend of March 15th-17th.
The Cherry and Whites are currently unbeaten in the tournament with five wins and zero losses topping off Pool A. Their opponents Exeter topped off Pool C with four wins and one loss and will be looking to reach the final to retain the trophy.
Championship side Ealing Trailfinders also find themselves unbeaten, topping of Pool D with five wins and zero losses, and they will face Leicester Tigers who have four wins and one loss in Pool B.
Skivington has been forced to make changes to the side that beat Sale Sharks 32-20 in their last game due to a mix of injury and competition rules, so Stephen Varney, Matias Alemanno, Santiago Carreras, Albert Tuisue, Charlie Atkinson and Chris Harris all come out of the squad. To replace them is Lloyd Evans, George Barton, Cam Jordan, Charlie Chapman, Arthur Clark and Max Llewellyn.
Exeter defeated Gloucester at their home ground of Sandy Park earlier on in the season in a thrilling game which saw the Chiefs win by just one point with a scoreline of 25-24.
Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is also under competition rules and injury when selecting his squad, however will be desperate to lift the trophy in back to back years and has named this XV to try and get a chance to do so.
Will the Cherry and Whites reach their first final in six years? Or will Baxter’s Chiefs do the business away from home to get the glimpse of cup retention? The game kicks off at 3.05pm at Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester and is being shown on TNT Sports.
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