Gloucester v L Irish: Teams
Gloucester wing Lesley Vainikolo returns to the starting XV for Saturday's clash with London Irish.
Last Updated: 24/04/10 5:33pm
Gloucester wing Lesley Vainikolo returns to the starting XV for Saturday's Guinness Premiership showdown with London Irish.
Vainikolo has recovered from a dead leg to face the Exiles as Gloucester look to get back to winning ways in front of their home crowd.
Also returning in the Cherry and Whites' starting back line are Tim Molenaar and Olly Morgan, while there are three changes up front from the side that started at Northampton last weekend with Scott Lawson, Peter Buxton and Akapusi Qera all returning.
Farewell
Of note amongst the replacements is Greg Somerville who is named in the squad for the first time since suffering a fractured radius in his forearm against Sale on February 27.
Somerville recently revealed that he will be leaving Gloucester in the summer to join the Melbourne Rebels so a Kingsholm farewell is on the cards.
Gloucester received four yellow cards at the Madejski Stadium in the previous meeting between the two sides this season but head coach Bryan Redpath does not think there will be any needle on Saturday afternoon.
"No, there's no need to be. The game's too big for personal challenges or anything like that. We know what we need to do and it's a big game for them," he said.
"We know how tough they are to break down. Steffon Armitage is probably one of the key players around their side. They've got some injuries now as well which has probably hampered them a little bit."
"But a massive challenge for us and we've got to thrive on it and set ourselves the challenge of not losing at Kingsholm."
Focus
Meanwhile, Elvis Seveali'i and Richard Thorpe return to London Irish's starting line-up.
The Samoan international takes his usual place at outside centre while 25-year-old Thorpe comes in at number eight in the only changes to the team that played at Madejski Stadium last weekend. Ryan Lamb has recovered from a leg injury and is named among the replacements.
"We have two games left and are keeping our focus - our eyes are still firmly fixed on a play-off spot," said London Irish head coach Toby Booth.
"We've worked hard in training this week on those areas that we needed to focus on and our performance will be the better for that.
"Kingsholm is always a tough place to go, even more so tomorrow given that this is Gloucester's last home game and they will want to put on a show. Their current position means the pressure is off them."
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Tim Molenaar, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Adam Eustace, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Greg Somerville, 19 Will James, 20 Alasdair Strokosch, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 23 Freddie Burns
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 John Rudd, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Richard Thorpe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Kieran Roche, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 James Tideswell, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 George Stowers, 21 Tom Homer, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Ryan Lamb.