Gloucester Rugby welcome London Irish to Kingsholm in their final game of 2022 tomorrow, and prop Harry Elrington is excited to take on his former team.

“There’s still a couple of faces there from when I was there, I’ve played them a couple of times already, but I always look forward to it.

“They’re going well at the moment, and it was a tight game when we played them down there. They’re physical and have some electric backs so we’ll have to be right on it.”

Having played in the Exiles front row, Elrington knows the physicality the Irish forwards will bring, but says that’s the part of the game he loves most.

“That’s why I play the game, I pride myself on my physicality so hopefully we can get physical on the weekend.”

Last time out, the Cherry & Whites narrowly beat the Exiles thanks to a long-range drop goal from Adam Hastings. Elrington couldn’t quite believe what he had witnessed and says it would be nice to wrap the game up earlier this time.

“When he was winding up I thought ‘what’s going on’, but it was unbelievable bit of skill. Hopefully we can get the job done a little bit earlier this time.”

The prop says the Cherry & Whites will be out to finish the year on a high in front of their hope supporters on New Year’s Eve.

“The support has been amazing this year again and we’re really looking forward to hopefully getting a big result on Saturday.”

Elrington didn’t play in last week’s loss at Leicester, but thinks the boys showed some positive signs in defeat.

“I thought we started really well and controlled the game well in the first half. I think Tigers probably stuck to their plan a little bit better than we did and in the second half just managed to capitalise on that pressure.

“There’s a lot of learnings for us that we are putting in to practise this week, so hopefully we’ll have a good performance on Saturday.”

Tigers’ win secured them the first ever Slater Cup, a trophy dedicated to former Cherry & White and Tiger, Ed Slater. Elrington looks forward to a great occasion when we contest for the Slater Cup again, at Kingsholm in March.

“I watched at home, unfortunately I wasn’t there but you could feel the emotion through the screen, and it looked like a great occasion. The return game will be great and I’m looking forward to catching up with Ed soon, he’s a great guy.”

Tickets for the match are selling fast but are still available here.

Elrington excited to face former team London Irish at Kingsholm

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