Gloucester v London Irish - Aviva Premiership match preview

Alex Corbisiero: Strengthens London Irish's starting line-up

Mike Tindall: Has been named as captain for Gloucester this weekend

Mike Tindall has been named as captain for Gloucester as they continue their Aviva Premiership campaign against London Irish on Saturday.

Tindall will take over the captaincy from Jim Hamilton, who is sidelined with a finger injury. Tom Savage replaces Hamilton in the second row.

In other changes from the team that started at Leicester Tigers last weekend, Dan Murphy comes in for Nick Wood at loosehead prop with Rob Cook returning after recovering from a stomach bug.

Saturday's game will be the third time that the two teams have met in five weeks, and the fourth time they've squared off in all competitions so far this season.

Meanwhile, visitors London Irish will be strengthened this weekend by the return of Alex Corbisiero to the starting line-up for the match at Kingsholm.

The England international joins David Paice and Halani Aulika in the front row with George Skivington partnering Bryn Evans in the second row.

Matt Garvey moves to the back row to join Canadian International, Jebb Sinclair and Chris Hala'ufia.

New signing Pat Phibbs is named at scrum-half and Steven Shingler and Sailosi Tagicakibau will form the centre combination. Jonathan Joseph will move to the wing.

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Shane Monahan, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Will James, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Shaun Knight, 2 Huia Edmonds, 1 Dan Murphy.

Replacements:16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Peter Buxton, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Tim Molenaar, 23 Martyn Thomas.

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Jonathan Joseph, 13 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 12 Steve Shingler, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Pat Phibbs, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Jebb Sinclair, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 George Skivington, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Alex Corbisiero.

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Leo Halavatau, 19 Kieran Low, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Guy Armitage, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Darren Allinson.

What they said...

Gloucester director of rugby Nigel Davies

"It's a very important game for us, and a very important game for them as well for different reasons.

"London Irish can be dangerous, they're very unpredictable and always have that ability to hurt teams. We have to be mindful of that and respect that. If you're loose and give them half chances, then they will take advantage.

"They will keep probing for opportunities, and they have quality players who can change a game in an instant. When you play a team like that, you have to be 100 per cent focused all the time.

"We are pretty comfortable we have a game that will serve us well if we are accurate and execute well."

London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith

"We've trained well this week and we're looking forward to the contest tomorrow.

"Gloucester are a very good team and deserve to go into the match as favourites, however we are looking at the contest as an opportunity to claim a big scalp. There is some history between the two clubs in recent times and the boys are very aware of that."

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