Despite injuries to key players such as Zach Mercer and Ollie Thorley, George Skivington feels his team are in the best position for their opening game in the EPCR Challenge Cup.
The Cherry and Whites take on Edinburgh on Friday night at Kingsholm (8pm), and Skivington has named a full strength side.
Gloucester were in a very different position in this fixture last year, having written off the Gallagher Premiership, they were able to put all focus into the Challenge Cup, making it all the way to final and eventually falling short to South African side Sharks 36-22.
This year they are in a significantly better place this season sitting in fifth and fighting for a top four spot, so the result of this game could foresee the strength of side Skivington picks for the rest of the competition.
Edinburgh currently sit in seventh in the United Rugby Championship, however, many of Edinburgh’s frontline have been given a week off and wont be playing at Kingsholm tonight.
Darcy Graham, Duhan van Merwe, Ali Price, Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Grant Cilchrist and Jamie Ritchie will all be resting despite playing in Edinburghs URC win over Benneton last week.
With some potentially crucial games coming up for Edinburgh’s season coming up against Bayonne next week and back-to-back Scottish derbies aganst Glasgow Warriors Sean Everitt will need a big shift from his main men.
Gloucester Rugby: 1.Val Rapava Ruskin, 2. Seb Black, 3.Kirill Gotovtsev, 4. Arthur Clark, 5.Matias Alemanno, 6.Freddie Thomas, 7.Lewis Ludlow(C), 8. Ruan Ackermann, 9. Caolan Englefield, 10. Gareth Anscombe, 11. Josh Hathaway, 12. Max Llewellyn, 13. Chris Harris, 14. Christian Wade, 15. Santiago Carreras.
Replacements: 16. Jack Singleton, 17. Ciaran Knight, 18. Afolabi Fasogbon, 19. Harry Taylor, 20. Albert Tuisue, 21. Charlie Chapman, 22. Will Butler, 23. George Barton.
Edinburgh: 1. Boan Venter, 2. Paddy Harrison, 3. Paul Hill, 4. Marshall Sykes, 5. Sam Skinner, 6. Tom Dodd, 7. Freddy Douglas, 8. Magnus Bradbury, 9. Ben Vellacott (C), 10. Ross Thompson, 11. Nathan Sweeney, 12. Mosese Tuipilotu, 13. Matt Currie, 14. Ross McCann, 15. Wes Goosen.
Replacements: 16. Dave Cherry, 17. Mikey Jones, 18. D’arcy Rae, 19. Rob Carmichael, 20. Liam McConnell, 21. Charlie Shiel, 22. Ben Healy, 23. James Lang.Replacements: 16. Dave Cherry, 17. Mikey Jones, 18. D’arcy Rae, 19. Rob Carmichael, 20. Liam McConnell, 21. Charlie Shiel, 22. Ben Healy, 23. James Lang.
