Gloucester Rugby captain Lewis Ludlow can’t wait to lead his side out against Leinster at Kingsholm tomorrow, and he says days like this don’t come around too often, so they’re looking to make the most of the club’s first opportunity to take on the Irish giants at Kingsholm in 16 years.

“It’s exciting, we’re playing against teams we don’t get to play against very often and we may never play them again, so we want to go out there and give the best account of ourselves even more than normal.

“You don’t very often get Leinster, which is basically the Ireland team, at Kingsholm on a Saturday.”

The team suffered a last-minute defeat in their last outing at Kingsholm last week, but Ludlow says there’s no better time to put a complete performance together, than when the four-time winners come to town.

“It was a tough one to take, probably one of the toughest for a long time in the changing room. But the biggest thing was that we did achieve some goals that we set out to do in terms of sticking to a game plan, working really hard and wanting to get the fans back behind us.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t swing our way, there was a lot in that game we could have controlled and executed better, and that’s what we’re aiming to do this week.”

The skipper was proud of his team’s defensive effort against the league leaders, and says they’ll need to repeat that to have any chance of turning over the side who are unbeaten this season.

“Our defence was amazing, the likes of Kirill Gotovtsev and Mati Alemanno were putting in some serious numbers. It was a big shift from everyone and that’ll be needed again this week, and hopefully we can replicate it.”

And there’s another factor that Ludlow hopes will benefit his side, the passionate Kingsholm crowd. Ludlow says European action at Kingsholm is unique.

“It’s one of those occasions that I’m really looking forward too, and I know this place will be buzzing because European days are special here.

“I have no doubt that the Kingsholm crowd will be roaring and hopefully we can put on a spectacle for them.”

The Cherry & Whites Heineken Champions Cup clash with Leinster kicks-off at 1pm at Kingsholm and tickets are available here.

"European days at Kingsholm are special" - Ludlow on Leinster visit

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