La Rochelle v Gloucester: Teams
A well-rested Gloucester side travel to Stade Marcel Deflandre looking to take over top spot in Pool Five from their hosts.
Last Updated: 10/12/10 5:05pm
At Stade Marcel Deflandre, Saturday December 12, kick-off 4.45pm (GMT)
The top two teams in Pool Five of the Amlin Challenge Cup go toe-to-toe on Saturday when La Rochelle welcome Gloucester to Stade Marcel Deflandre.
The Cherry and Whites know they cannot afford to slip too far behind their next opponents having lost their opening encounter against Agen.
They enter the clash after a week off, with their Aviva Premiership game with Sale that was scheduled for last weekend called off due to bad weather.
Head coach Bryan Redpath has named the same back-line that would have done battle against the Sharks, but has made two alterations in the pack, with Will James coming in at lock and Peter Buxton selected at flank.
"It's a must win game for us, to be honest. If we don't win, then it's potentially going to be very difficult for us to progress. So this is the key game in the whole competition for us," explained Redpath.
"If we lose, potentially that's it for us, but we're ready for the challenge and excited about it."
"Playing in France in any competition is a massive challenge, and they're two from two, they'll want honours for their club, and it's an opportunity for us to chase the same."
La Rochelle opened their European campaign with a convincing 38-3 win over Rovigo before seeing off fellow French outfit Agen 30-23 last time out.
Agen could make it a three-way tie at the top of the table if they record a bonus-point victory over Rovigo at Stadio Mario Battaglini and Gloucester secure a four-point triumph on their travels.
La Rochelle: 15 Greg Goosen, 14 Maxime Le Bourhis, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Guillaume Devade, 11 Florian Ninard, 10 Benjamin Dambielle, 9 Damien Neveu, 8 Romain Carmignani, 7 Franck Jacob, 6 Nicolas Djebaili, 5 Jacobus Grobler, 4 Robert Mohr, 3 Jonathan Garcia, 2 Andres Bordoy, 1Alexandre Bares,
Replacements:16 Stéphane Clement, 17 Romain Frou, 18 Tamato Leupolu, 19 Quentin D'Aram de Valada, 20 Piula Fa'asalele, 21 Seru Rabeni, 22 Vincent Roux, 23 Remi Tales.
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8. Luke Narraway, 7. Andy Hazell, 6. Peter Buxton, 5. David Attwood, 4. Will James, 3. Paul Doran-Jones, 2. Olivier Azam, 1. Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Alex Brown, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Charlie Sharples.
