Friday evening sees Gloucester Rugby travel to take on Bristol Bears in round two of the Premiership Rugby Cup. The Cherry and Whites ring the changes with only five players retaining their starting spots from last week. Lewis Ludlow will skipper the team.

Tom Seabrook and Lloyd Evans are the backs who started against London Irish last Saturday, while Henry Walker, Alex Craig and Aaron Hinkley keep their places in the pack.

Those five apart, the rest of the starting line-up are getting their first competitive run out of the season with scrum-half Joe Simpson making his debut for the club.

Both teams lost their opening round matches in the competition and will be keen to clinch a first victory of the season, but Head Coach Johan Ackermann told the local media this week that using the squad wisely over the next few weeks is key.

“We’ll mix and match in the next four weeks and see where players are. This coming week we’re making a lot of changes and giving some of the more experienced players a hit-out as we get closer to the start of the Gallagher Premiership.

“The challenging thing is that there are still a few weeks to go until the Premiership and this isn’t a friendly, it’s a competitive game and we can’t rotate the squad during the game. Some players will have to go for the full 80 minutes and we have to get the balance right.

“It’s brilliant to start against a side who play a great style of rugby, is well coached by Pat (Lam) and who beat us down there last year. It’s actually a great challenge for us.”

Gloucester Rugby:

Jason Woodward; 14. Tom Marshall, 13. Tom Seabrook, 12. Matt Banahan, 11. Ollie Thorley; 10. Lloyd Evans, 9. Joe Simpson; 1. Val Rapava Ruskin, 2. Henry Walker, 3. Ruan Dreyer; 4. Alex Craig, 5. Gerbrandt Grobler; 6. Lewis Ludlow (capt), 7. Aaron Hinkley, 8. Ruan Ackermann

Replacements:

Todd Gleave, 17. Alex Seville, 18. Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19. Ed Slater, 20. Josh Gray, 21. Charlie Chapman, 22. Billy Twelvetrees, 23. Tom Hudson

Gloucester Rugby ring the changes for Premiership Rugby Cup game at Bristol

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