Gloucestershire will face Devon - likely to be their strongest opponents in the south west group - at the Cherry and Whites' headquarters on Sunday May 17th.
They kick off their county championship campaign against Somerset at Taunton RFC on May 9th and finish their group games against Cornwall at Cinderford's Dockham Road on May 23rd. All games are likely to kick off at 3pm.
Legendary Gloucester lock Mark Cornwell will take over the coaching reins for the county seniors working alongside Paul Williams who previously coached the squad with Dave Spencer.
The county are also likely to include a number of Gloucester Academy starlets this year thanks to both Academy Manager Cornwell's involvement and the groundwork put in by Nigel Gillingham.
Nigel is delighted at the involvement with Gloucester Rugby:
"I'm new to the role this season and one of the things I was really keen to do was to involve players from the Gloucester and Bristol Academies."
"I met with Mark Cornwell and with Geoff Moon, who was then Academy Manager at Bristol, to talk to them about making players available for the county championship and they were keen."
"After all, it could lead to invaluable experience with the England Counties side and I believe it benefits all parties."
"It's unlikely you are ever going to have current Premiership players involved in the county set up but there's no reason why the Academy lads shouldn't be."
"It's fantastic that Mark Cornwell has agreed to take on the coaching. Having him on board and playing at Kingsholm are major coups for the county."
"It's a big fillip for players getting the chance to play at such a famous Premiership ground. These are very exciting times."
The county coaches have assembled a training squad of around 45 players and Nigel is looking forward to a hugely competitive championships.
"The South West group is the toughest and that's exactly as it should be. It's a real challenge and the winners of it are always going to be favourites for the final. It's fantastic that the Devon game, which could well decide the outcome of the group, is being played at Kingsholm."
"Having Devon and Cornwall at home is the best we could have hoped for. It should be a great championship."
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