Wasps v Gloucester: Teams

Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks has named a strong-looking XV for the visit of Gloucester.

England internationals Joe Worsley and Tim Payne have been added to the pack alongside Richard Birkett and John Hart, while Joe Simpson and Ben Jacobs come into the backline.

There are further changes on an experienced bench, Mark van Gisbergen, Steve Kefu and Marty Veale included.

Hanks said: "We obviously have not had the results we have wanted over the past few weeks, but that is now in the past and it is all about the Premiership for the next month.

"How we perform at home is really important to achieve our goal of making the play-offs and that starts with Gloucester at the weekend and that is all we are concentrating on.

"While there are a number of senior players back this weekend, it is a real boost to the squad to have Tim Payne and Joe Worsley back from England."

Challenge

Gloucester have handed Darren Dawidiuk his first Premiership start of the season for the trip to Adams Park.

With Scott Lawson away with Scotland, Dawidiuk has been handed his chance.

Coach Bryan Redpath has also been buoyed by the return of Paul Doran-Jones, Luke Narraway and James Simpson-Daniel.

And Redpath knows victory over their play-off rivals is vital to his side's ambitions this season.

"We have to keep pushing and making ourselves better. We've won our last two away games in Rovigo and Leeds which is great and scored a lot of points in the last five games. But, that's gone, it's in the past," he said.

"We now face a big challenge against Wasps at Adams Park and we haven't won down there for a while. We've performed well in stages but not well enough over the duration of a game to beat them.

"If we want to push for that top part of the league, we have to go away and put ourselves in a position to win away from home.

"It's going to be tough. Wasps are a good side and I respect them a huge amount. We were very close at home at the start of the season so it will be a challenge but one we should relish."

Wasps: 15 Ben Jacobs, 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Dominic Waldouck, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 TomVarndell, 10 Dave Walder, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 John Hart, 7 Serge Betson, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Richard Birkett, 4 James Cannon, 3 Ben Broster, 2 Joe Ward (capt), 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Shaun Ruwers, 18 Bob Baker, 19 Marty Veale, 20 Sam Jones, 21 Nic Berry, 22 Steve Kefu, 23 Mark van Gisbergen.

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Tim Molenaar, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Luke Narraway (capt), 7 Andrew Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown. 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tom Voyce.