Gloucester next up at Kingston Park

Tomorrow evening sees Newcastle Red Bulls take on Gloucester in The Gallagher Prem. For me, it's my team Gloucester against the team that I watch most weeks, Newcastle Red Bulls seen as I live so close to Kingston Park. It feels like this game has been marked in Red Bulls diary for quite some time as one they are targeting.

Gloucester forced into changes

Gloucester have been forced into changes with the Kingsholm club taking on more injuries during the Saracens defeat last weekend. Up front Val Rapava Ruskin and Afo Fasogbon start at prop. With an injury crisis at hooker with three senior hookers unavailable, George Skivington has loaned Will Crane from Hartpury. Questions have been asked why there wasn't a senior hooker recruited when it was announced that Jack Singleton would miss the season.

The second row sees Arthur Clark and Freddie Thomas team up. Welsh youngster Deain Gwynne is back from suspension at blindside flanker, Lewis Ludlow the heartbeat of the club at openside and Jack Clement continues at number eight.

In the backs Tomos Williams and an under pressure Ross Byrne start at half back. Seb Atkinson and youngster Will Knight are in the centres with Ollie Thorley, Jack Cotgreave and Charlie Atkinson completing the lineup.

The bench sees nineteen year old hooker George Knowles alongside Ciaran Knight and Jamal Ford-Robinson. Rumoured Red Bulls bound Cam Jordan covers the second row and James Venter the back row. Mikey Austin, George Barton and Josh Hathaway cover the backs.

Red Bulls line up

The front row sees Richard Palframan come in alogside Murray McCallum who changes sides in the scrum and ex-Gloucester man George McGuigan. For what it's worth I expect McGuigan to have a big game tomorrow night as he was allowed to go to The Ospreys on loan after a nasty injury cut short his playing time at Kingsholm. Jamie Hodgson comes into the second row alongside Oscar Usher. The back row sees Tom Gordon, Tom Christie and Ollie Leatherbarrow who has really taken his chance in recent weeks.

Simon Benitez Cruz lines up at nine in what will be a good battle with Tomos Williams, alongside Brett Connon. The centres see Sammy Arnold and Alex Hearle start with Christian Wade, Elliott Obatoyinbo and Ethan Grayson.

On the bench Ollie Fletcher, Connor Hancock and Luan de Bruin cover the front row with Finn Baker and powerhouse Amanaki Mafi covering the rest of the forwards. The backs are covered by James Elliott, Boeta Chamberlain and Oli Spencer who can count himself very unlucky to not be starting, he's another who has taken his chance this season.

Gloucester in disarray

Red Bulls will be looking to take advantage of a Gloucester team low on confidence and a support base who are starting to lose patience. Last weekend there were reports that Tomos Williams who is signing for Saracens next season was apparently booed at Kingsholm. If true, that's poor form. It's a short career and players have to make decisions based on what's best for them and if the rumours of £250,000 extra a season are to be believed then you can't blame him. George Skivington and his team are under huge pressure, It seems as though in the eyes of some fans there's no way back for Skivington at Gloucester. His selection of Ross Byrne is being questioned weekly, my take on Byrne is some of the ball he's getting is poor, the forwards aren't winning the physical battle up front and he's under a huge amount of pressure when he does get it. Couple that with how many times last season did Santi Carreras produce a moment of magic to unlock a defence.

This week saw Alex Brown, CEO write a letter to fans. Alex was a brilliant servant for the club but his leadership is also under pressure from fans. The thing I would like to know is what do the club count as success?

The other thing about Gloucester is, I fear the risk of them being left behind. Investment is desperately needed in Kingsholm, the facilities don't meet that of elite sport, where others have invested in their ground Kingsholm hasn't had the investment required.

What do Gloucester need to do tomorrow?

Quite simply win the physical battle. Last week against Saracens they were second best when Carre, Willis and McFarland got going Gloucester couldn't cope. There was no platform for anything to happen. When Saracens got in the red zone they looked like scoring and when Gloucester got in they used so much energy trying to score. Gloucester will also be looking to be more accurate in attack, passes going astray need to be taken tomorrow night.

I'd keep it simple and take the three points when they're on offer and chip away at the scoreboard. The forwards have to front up on a cold Kingston Park night. Red Bulls will battle and keep in the game, Gloucester's mentality has to be different to how it has been. This is the kind of game Lewis Ludlow is made for. As I said above, he is the heartbeat of the club and plays like he cares. He leads the physical effort and others will follow, we saw it against Quins where Trenholm upped his efforts and I've no doubt Ludlow played a part in that.

Confidence will be high for Red Bulls

Despite losing last week, Red Bulls did get a four try bonus point. Similar to Gloucester, I expect Red Bulls will take the points when on offer and the game is going to be won by the team who wins the physical battle. One thing you can't fault this Red Bulls outfit for is effort and commitment, Gloucester are mentally fragile and they'll be looking to capitalise on that. If Red Bulls get ahead, given where Gloucester are mentally at the moment they'll make it very hard for Gloucester to get back into it.

Expect a lot of Sammy Arnold potentially mixing it up between targeting Ross Byrne and Will Knight. Although Knight is a very promising player, he's an eighteen year old learning his trade in The Gallagher Prem.

With the likes of Amanaki Mafi to come off the bench, Red Bulls will be desperate not to drop off as they have in recent weeks. Squad depth as it is with fifteen players unavailable is always going to be problematic.

Game of attrition

As I've said, whoever wins the physical battle wins this. Gloucester are so fragile at the moment that I'm really not sure if they have it in them on a Friday night at Kingston Park. It does feel like there's a lot more pressure on Gloucester here than Red Bulls. If Gloucester do lose then the pressure will pile on even more to make changes. On paper, it's still a strong team but that team needs to perform.

For Red Bulls, a cold January Friday night at Kingston Park is what this group is made for. This is one they can definitely win, do they have the depth to do it though?

What do you think?

For a change this week, let me know what you guys think. Feel free to vote below and comment at the end.

Who wins this?

• Newcastle Red Bulls
• Gloucester
• Draw