Gloucester v London Welsh - LV= Cup match preview
Gloucester and London Welsh will look to kick-start their LV= Cup campaigns when they clash at Kingsholm on Saturday.
Last Updated: 17/11/12 4:28pm
Gloucester suffered an agonising late 33-27 defeat away at the Ospreys in their first game - and director of rugby Nigel Davies has reacted by recalling a trio of England hopefuls.
Freddie Burns, Ben Morgan and Billy Twelvetrees, who all trained with England this week, are included, while Fiji back-row Akapusi Qera also returns.
London Welsh suffered a heavy 42-15 loss to the Exeter Chiefs, with the Exiles leaking four tries in the final 16 minutes.
As a result head coach Lyn Jones has made nine changes of personnel - as well as two positional switches - for the trip to Kingsholm.
Tom Voyce, Dan Caprice, Jamie Stephenson, Tom Bristow, Will Hafu, Paulica Ion, Adam Brown, Matt Corker and Adam Balding are all handed starts.
On the bench, Jones names on-loan Paul Spivey and the returning Ed Jackson.
Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Shane Monahan, 13 Mike Tindall (c), 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Steph Reynolds, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Will James, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Huia Edmonds, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Koree Britton, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Peter Buxton, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Molenaar, 23 Drew Locke
London Welsh: 15 Tom Voyce, 14 Dan Caprice, 13 Sonny Parker, 12 Seb Jewell, 11 Nick Scott, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Jamie Stephenson, 1 Tom Bristow, 2 Will Hafu, 3 Paulica Ion, 4 Adam Brown, 5 Matt Corker, 6 Lee Beach, 7 Michael Hills, 8 Adam Balding.
Replacements: 16 James Tideswell, 17 Greg Bateman, 18 Arthur Joly, 19 Paul Spivey, 20 Ed Jackson, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Alex Davies, 23 James Lewis.
What they said...
Gloucester forwards coach Carl Hogg
"First and foremost, we're going into the game looking for a performance. We can't get carried away with outcomes.
"London Welsh gave us a very tough time down there in the Aviva Premiership. There were one or two critical moments where we managed to get on top down there.
"They're a very difficult team to break down and bring different challenges. We need to perform well on Saturday, get our first 20 minutes right and see where the game takes us."
London Welsh director of rugby Lyn Jones
"This Saturday's fixture against Gloucester offers a good opportunity for individuals to put their hand up for selection for our trip to Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership the following week.
"We did some good things Exeter, but we also did some not so good things, and we were all pretty disappointed with the outcome. Likewise I'm sure Gloucester will have been disappointed not to get a victory against the Ospreys.
"But Saturday is about our performance and individuals. Lots of players are still coming to grips with the consistency that Premiership squads bring and the concentration levels required for 80 minutes."