Up front, Huia Edmonds and Darren Dawidiuk swap places at hooker, with the Australian international starting this weekend. Meanwhile, Will James comes in for Tom Savage at lock.

The only change to the back line sees Martyn Thomas replace Rob Cook, who has been suffering from a bug over Christmas.

It's third against fourth this weekend, with the Tigers just ahead of Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership table.

The top half of the table is incredibly tight, so there's plenty to play for and Director of Rugby Nigel Davies knows that the Tigers will be a tough proposition on their own patch.

"They are very comfortable playing at home. It's not the biggest pitch in the league, they play a style to suit that, they're comfortable with it and have the personnel to deliver it.

"They have a very effective kick chase game, which works well on that particular type of pitch, as Saracens do.

"So we have to deal with the aerial battle that we'll face, that will be one of the key areas to come out on top of.

"It's going to be physical, we know that, but we've been pretty physical ourselves this season."

Gloucester beat the Tigers 27-21 in the first meeting between the two sides this season, and Davies knows Saturday's opponents won't have forgotten that.

"I'm sure that the Tigers will be lying in wait for us. They'll have been disappointed with the result down here, and they'll want to put that right this weekend."

"But it's a great opportunity for us, we've got ourselves into a good position. It's an away fixture for us, so most of the pressure is on them and we'll go up there to give a good account of ourselves."

Gloucester Rugby:

Martyn Thomas; Charlie Sharples, Mike Tindall, Billy Twelvetrees, Shane Monahan; Freddie Burns, Jimmy Cowan; Nick Wood, Huia Edmonds, Shaun Knight; Will James, Jim Hamilton (capt); Sione Kalamafoni, Akapusi Qera, Ben Morgan

Replacements:

Darren Dawidiuk, Dan Murphy, Dario Chistolini, Tom Savage, Matt Cox, Dan Robson, Tim Molenaar, Dave Lewis