Willi Heinz is named in the Gloucester Rugby starting line-up for the first time this season with Worcester Warriors the visitors to Kingsholm in the Gallagher Premiership on Friday evening (kick off 7:45pm).

Heinz, of course, was on Rugby World Cup duty with England for the first few weeks of Gloucester Rugby’s season and rehabbing a hamstring injury since his return. However, he is now ready to go and reclaims the captain’s armband.

Also returning to the starting line-up after last weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup fixture in Connacht are Tom Marshall, Chris Harris, Danny Cipriani, Val Rapava Ruskin, Franco Marais, Franco Mostert and Ben Morgan.

It’s Gloucester Rugby’s 500^th game in the Premiership, and the final home game at Kingsholm in 2019, and Head Coach Johan Ackermann knows it will be a tough one.

“They’re a tough side, a physical side who play with a lot of passion. They’ll pose a big challenge for us.

“But it all starts with us. We respect Worcester and their coaching staff and what they've achieved, they’ve got quality players. But we have to look at ourselves and tick the boxes that we want to.

“We’ve scored a lot of tries recently including some very good tries. Hopefully we’ll get some more and the supporters will enjoy it. But we’ll have to match Worcester physically before we can start thinking about that.”

Gloucester Rugby:

Tom Marshall; 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Ollie Thorley; 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Willi Heinz (capt); 1. Val Rapava Ruskin, 2. Franco Marais, 3. Fraser Balmain; 4. Alex Craig, 5. Franco Mostert; 6. Ruan Ackermann, 7. Lewis Ludlow 8. Ben Morgan

Replacements:

Todd Gleave, 17. Josh Hohneck, 18. Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19. Gerbrandt Grobler, 20. Freddie Clarke, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Billy Twelvetrees, 23. Charlie Sharples

Unavailable for selection:

Ruan Dreyer, Corné Fourie, James Hanson, Jaco Kriel, Jake Polledri, Ed Slater, Owen Williams, Jason Woodward

Heinz returns to skipper Gloucester Rugby against Worcester Warriors

Related News