Gloucester v Northampton Saints: Aviva Premiership preview
Last Updated: 06/03/15 2:30pm
Gloucester welcome back a trio of international players for Saturday’s clash with reigning Aviva Premiership champions Northampton Saints at Kingsholm.
Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw, England centre Billy Twelvetrees and Wales hooker Richard Hibbard all return to the Cherry and Whites’ starting line-up.
There are two further changes to the team that lost at Wasps last weekend, with Steve McColl coming in at full-back and Gareth Evans named at No 8.
Northampton have moved clear at the top of the Premiership courtesy of a three-game winning streak, and they make three changes in the pack and another at half-back for the trip to the West Country.
British and Irish Lions prop Alex Corbisiero and Salesi Ma’afu replace Alex Waller and Gareth Denman respectively, with Tom Wood captaining the side after coming in for Sam Dickinson in the back row.
Kahn Fotuali'i wears the No 9 jersey after being promoted from the bench, with Lee Dickson dropping out of the starting line-up.
Gloucester: 15 Steve McColl, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Bill Meakes, 12 Billy Twelvetrees (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 James Hook, 9 Greig Laidlaw; 1 Dan Murphy, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 John Afoa, 4 Tom Savage, 5 Tom Palmer, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Gareth Evans.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Henry Purdy.
Northampton Saints: 15 James Wilson, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Tom Stephenson, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Kahn Fotuali’I; 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2 Mike Haywood, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Tom Wood (c), 7 Calum Clark, 8 Samu Manoa.
Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Sam Dickinson, 20 Phil Dowson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Ahsee Tuala.
