Gloucester Rugby head coach George Skivington is looking forward to seeing the travelling Cherry & Whites in Dublin when his side take on Leinster in the Champions Cup on Friday, and he’s sure they’ll bring their loud and proud support.

“I’m always blown away by the travelling support and how they can manage to be louder than the home support at a lot of grounds. It will be exciting over there, obviously Leinster’s crowd will be passionate and intense, but we hope to see as many people in Cherry & White jerseys as possible.”

Last time the two sides met in the competitive action in 2007, it was the Cherry & Whites that claimed victory at Kingsholm, but Skivington knows they’re in for tough test at the home of the four-time winners.

“They’re a very well-oiled machine, they beat Racing 10-42 on the weekend which was very, very impressive. They have a lot of Ireland players, so they play together a lot in high intensity environments.

“I know Stuart Lancaster very well and he’s been very generous with his time for me over the last few years and he’s a seriously sharp operator. It’s certainly no small challenge.”

Last week, Gloucester Rugby began their Champions Cup campaign with a bonus pint win over Top 14 side, Bordeaux-Begles. Skivington was impressed with his team’s fight to win the game.

“Bordeaux are a really good team. It was a massively physical game on the weekend, they came at us with the maul and a few bits and pieces so there were some good challenges for us. We tried to be brave first half which is what we asked the lads to do.

“We didn’t quite execute the plays and come away with enough points but that came together second half and in particular the last 20 I thought the boys were outstanding.”

The Cherry & Whites picked up a couple of knocks against Bordeaux, and with a tricky festive period coming up, Skivington is having to balance the squad to look after his players.

“We always challenge ourselves as a squad to solve problems but there’s nothing like the pressure of a game. The boys were cool and came up with some good solutions, and the boys coming off the bench made a good impact.”

“It’s a real challenge, we have a lot of tough games through this period, so we have to be sensible. We have a few bangs and it’s a short training week, so we have to be smart and take lads that are fresh and the lads going over there are really excited for the challenge.”

"It's no small challenge." - Skivington on Leinster away

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