Northampton vs Gloucester: Teams
Peter Buxton will lead Gloucester in their opening Aviva Premiership clash with Northampton on Sunday in the absence of Luke Narraway.
Last Updated: 03/09/11 2:48pm
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder has named five of his summer signings in the starting XV for the Aviva Premiership opener against Gloucester.
Tom May, Noah Cato, Martin Roberts, Paul Doran Jones and Samu Manoa will all make their debuts, with Mike Haywood, James Craig and Ryan Lamb poised to make their first appearances off the bench.
And despite solid performances against Russia, Toulouse and Leinster, Mallinder has warned his side their pre-season results will count for nothing if they don't show respect to last season's play-off semi-finalists.
"There is no room for any excuse on Sunday," Mallinder said. "Yes, we have had some good performances over the past few weeks.
"But as always there are plenty of things we have been concentrating on in training and once the Aviva Premiership Rugby season starts all of that pre-season work will be quickly forgotten if we don't get a positive result against Gloucester.
"Gloucester finished last season very well, winning the LV= Cup along the way, and they got a good result against Russia last week. Bryan Redpath is a good coach and he has some talented players available to him who have the ability to pose us plenty of problems.
"So we will need to be switched on and concentrate from the first whistle."
Confidence
Former England winger Lesley Vainikolo has been named in the centres for Gloucester's trip to Northampton.
Vainikolo has been named in the No.12 jersey with Jonny May named outside him, with Tim Taylor gets the first chance to prove his is the perfect replacement for Nick Robinson.
Head coach Bryan Redpath has handed a debut to summer signing Dario Chistolini, while Western Force hooker Nathan Charles is named on the bench after arriving as cover during the World Cup.
Fellow new-boys Nick Runciman, Dan Murphy and Tom Savage will also start the clash among the replacements.
And Redpath believe his side have every reason to be confident heading to Franklin's Gardens.
"We've got to have confidence going in," he said. "It's going to be tough, Northampton are a good side. They're well respected and they're at home and will be desperate to get their season off to a good start.
"We've got nine players unavailable because of internationals and long term injuries but we've got to get on with it. The players who are coming in are more than capable of competing.
"If we compete and perform with the characteristics that we expect of a Gloucester player then I can't really ask for a huge amount more."
Northampton: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Paul Diggin, 13 Tom May, 12 James Downey, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Martin Roberts, 1 Paul Doran Jones, 2 Brett Sharman, 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Samu Manoa, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Calum Clark, 7 Ben Nutley, 8 Phil Dowson (capt)
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller,18 Tom Mersey, 19 Christian Day, 20 James Craig, 21 Stuart Commins, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Scott Armstrong
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples,13 Jonny May, 12 Lesley Vainikolo, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Tim Taylor, 9 Dave Lewis, 1 Nick Wood, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 3 Dario Chistolini, 4 Will James, 5 Alex Brown, 6 Peter Buxton (capt), 7 Andy Hazell, 8 Brett Deacon.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tom Voyce