Fixture Information

Venue – Kingsholm Stadium

VS – Benetton

Kick off – Friday 17 December, 8pm

Coverage - EPCR Website (live stream) and BBC Radio Gloucestershire

Team News

George Skivington has named his Gloucester Rugby side to host Benetton in Round 2 of the Heineken Challenge Cup.

The Cherry and Whites kicked off their European campaign against Lyon last Friday and there are 14 changes to the starting line-up that came away with the losing bonus point with Billy Twelvetrees the only player keeping their starting place.

Lloyd Evans will provide another playmaking option and starts at fullback where he will be hoping to get the ball out wide to Jonny May and Louis Rees-Zammit outside of him.

Chris Harris starts at 13 with Twelvetrees keeping the 12 shirt. Adam Hastings and Ben Meehan link up at halfback again.

In the forwards, Val Rapava-Ruskin, Jack Singleton and Kirill Gotovtsev make up the front row and have Freddie Clarke and Matias Alemanno behind them at second row.

Jordy Reid returns for his first start since Round 1 of the Premiership and will play at 6 next to Ruan Ackermann at No.8 and captain Lewis Ludlow at 7.

There is a strong group of replacements with Henry Walker, Jamal Ford-Robinson, Fraser Balmain, Andrew Davidson and Jack Clement covering the forwards with Stephen Varney, Giorgi Kveseladze and Kyle Moyle named as back replacements.

George Skivington is looking forward to the game.

“It’s a massive game because at the end of the day we’ve got one point in the competition. The context around that is very positive but it’s still only one point. We want more points and we want to be competitive. It’s a big game, we’ve prepared well this week and it’s exciting. We love coming back to Kingsholm and a nice big European fixture is great.”

Gloucester Rugby

15. Lloyd Evans *

14. Louis Rees-Zammit *

13. Chris Harris

12. Billy Twelvetrees

11. Jonny May *

10. Adam Hastings

9. Ben Meehan

1. Val Rapava-Ruskin

2. Jack Singleton

3. Kirill Gotovtsev

4. Freddie Clarke *

5. Matias Alemanno

6. Jordy Reid

7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *

8. Ruan Ackermann

16. Henry Walker *

17. Jamal Ford-Robinson

18. Fraser Balmain

19. Andrew Davidson

20. Jack Clement *

21. Stephen Varney *

22. Giorgi Kveseladze

23. Kyle Moyle

*Denotes Academy player or graduate from the Gloucester Rugby Academy

Tickets to our European clash against Benetton are still available here.

Gloucester Rugby ready for Benetton in European Challenge Cup

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