Gloucester head to Edinburgh

Friday night sees a change of competition for Gloucester as they travel to Edinburgh in The Champions Cup. Everyone connected with Gloucester will be hoping a change of competition brings a change of luck for the cherry & whites.

For me, it's a train from Newcastle tomorrow morning and a few hours in Edinburgh before kick off. I'm over the disappointment of last Friday night at Kingston Park and see it is a fresh challenge this week.

Edinburgh have injuries too

Edinburgh have sixteen players unavailable due to injury including Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist, Boan Venter and Dylan Richardson.

Their starting fifteen sees James Whitcombe, Harri Morris and exciting young talent Ollie Blyth-Lafferty combine. The second row sees Glen Young and Callum Hunter-Hill join forces. The back row sees the exciting young talent of Liam McConnell and Freddy Douglas on the flank and the much more experienced Magnus Bradbury at number eight.

Ex-Gloucester man Ben Vellacott starts at scrum half, he's been really unlucky to not be in the Scotland conversation in my view. Alongside him is Ross Thompson. The centres are James Lang and Matt Currie. The back three has some tries in it with Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe on the wings and Wes Goosen at full back.

The bench has an experienced front row ready to go in all action Ewan Ashman, Pierre Schoeman and Paul Hill. The forwards are completed by Euan Mcvie, Tom Dodd and Ben Muncaster. Charlie Shiel and a familiar face from The Premiership Piers O'Conor cover the backs.

Changes for Gloucester

Gloucester have been forced into some changes this week. In the front row Val Rapava Ruskin, Will Crane and Nepo Laulala start. In the second row Freddie Thomas continues with Matias Alemanno coming in for the suspended Arthur Clark. The back row sees Lewis Ludlow, Deain Gwynne and Jack Clement named. Deain Gwynne has been named in the Welsh under 20's squad this week and Clement fresh from his contract signing.

Mikey Austin starts at scrum half and Charlie Atkinson gets a chance at fly half, that's a move that an increasing number of supporters have been wanting to see. Seb Atkinson captains from inside centre again with Will Butler in at outside centre. On the wings Jack Cotgreave and Josh Hathaway start with George Barton in at full back. Barton looked lively last week when he came on, mainly because he ran straight.

The bench sees George Knowles, Ciaran Knight and Afo Fasogbon cover the front row. Cam Jordan who was impressive off the bench last week and James Venter complete the forward replacements. Rhys Price, Ross Byrne and Jake Morris complete the bench.

Gloucester have fourteen players unavailable with the issues being at hooker and in the backs in general. A team without Tomos Williams, Ben Loader, Will Joseph, Max Llewllyn, Ollie Thorley and Ben Redshaw is missing some x factor.

Weather to play its part

The weather looks like it will be a factor tomorrow tonight, in short it looks like it'll be cold and wet! Edinburgh have some firepower in the front row and will look to finish strongly. The Edinburgh back three concerns me with, especially with how at times Newcastle attacked wide and exploited the wide defence last week. We know the pace and finishing ability they possess and if Gloucester are slack in the wide channels it could be a long night.

Set piece is crucial

The short and long of it is, if Gloucester have as poor a set piece as last week they won't get anything from the game. If conditions do come in the lineout could be a lottery which in a way could benefit Gloucester. I look at our starting pack and feel we have the personnel to win the battle up front but if we don't perform as a team then Edinburgh will get the upper hand. I expect Edinburgh's young flankers will be well up for it and will be keen to make an impact on the game.

The set piece becomes even more crucial in the game when Edinburgh empty their bench and they look to Schoeman and Hill to move things forward. Ewan Ashman is an all action hooker and will play well in the loose but also loves to sit on the back of a maul. I want to see the Gloucester lineout compete this week and put Edinburgh under pressure, last week we didn't compete in the red zone. That's all very well and good if you get the maul defence right, unfortunately that wasn't right either!

Do the basics well

Gloucester need to play to the conditions, in whatever guise they come. Missed kicks to touch and poor handling will be punished. You might think I'm mad writing this, but looking at the teams I do think there's a chance of victory tomorrow night. To do that though the basics have to be done right, it might not be an evening for running backs moves. Take the points when they're on offer and try and keep the scoreboard ticking.

Short on physicality

I do worry that without Ollie Thorley, Gloucester are a bit short of physicality in the backs and with the conditions we're going to need someone to truck the ball up. I'm not sure if we have that, likewise in the forwards at times last week we lacked that power carrier.

Let's get behind the team

It's obvious that there's a desperation to want to do better than what we've done so far this season. People will say what they like about George Skivington but I honestly believe he cares and gets what it means to us. I've no doubt that he's doing all he can to try and turn things around, if you're going to Edinburgh tomorrow then let's be loud and proud and get behind the team for the full eighty. Everyone's hurting at the moment but let's channel that into getting behind the team!