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TEAM NEWS: Gloucester team named for crunch tie with Pau

Despite rumours of an impending England call up, Ben Vellacott starts at scrum-half in place of the injured Willi Heinz.

Tom Savage will captain the side from second row; with Ross Moriarty continuing his return from injury with another start in the back row.

Overall, the Cherry and Whites have made 11 changes from the side that beat Agen in France last Friday. Man of the match that day, Owen Williams, has to settle with a position on the bench as Billy Burns returns to the fly half role.

The changes reflect the strength in depth in the Gloucester squad at the moment and the subsequent competition for places, with all the replacements being players who started against Agen, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by defence coach Jonny Bell.

“Selection has been difficult. We’ve got a wealth of options in the back row, the midfield is exceptionally hard to choose as we’ve got such talented players. Across the board we’ve got a bit of strength in depth now which is really important.

“But Johan always stresses that, when he picks a team, he picks the team that he feels suits the way that we want to approach this game and the plan that we’ve put in place. That’s tough on some guys when they don’t get picked but that’s what you need to be successful”.

The fixture on Friday night also see’s No.8 Ben Morgan feature in his 100th match for the Cherry and White side.

Gloucester Rugby:

15. Jason Woodward; 14. Henry Purdy, 13. Billy Twelvetrees, 12. Andy Symons, 11. Ollie Thorley; 10. Billy Burns, 9. Ben Vellacott; 1. Josh Hohneck, 2. Richard Hibbard, 3. John Afoa; 4. Tom Savage (capt), 5. Jeremy Thrush; 6. Ross Moriarty, 7. Lewis Ludlow, 8. Ben Morgan

Replacements:

16. Motu Matu’u, 17. Cameron Orr, 18. Fraser Balmain, 19. Ed Slater, 20. Freddie Clarke, 21. Jake Polledri, 22. Callum Braley, 23. Owen Williams

The full Pau side has just been announced, with the French side fielding a full-strength side as they also seek a home quarter-final.