Fixture Information
Venue - cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens
VS- Northampton Saints
Kick off - Saturday 18 September, 3pm
Team News
George Skivington has named his first match day 23 of the 2021-22 Gallagher Premiership season. Gloucester Rugby's opening fixture sees the Cherry and Whites travel to Northampton Saints on Saturday.
After a good pre-season campaign with two fixtures against Ealing and an away trip to Coventry, Skivington has had the opportunity to give everyone game time ahead of Round 1.
Kyle Moyle, Jonny May and Ollie Thorley make up the back three with Tom Seabrook and Billy Twelvetrees picked in the midfield.
Lloyd Evans has been handed the starting 10 jersey and will link up with Ben Meehan who makes his competitive debut alongside Harry Elrington who starts at prop, Andrew Davidson at lock and Kirill Gotovtsev and Adam Hastings who are both named on the bench.
In the forwards, Jack Singleton and Fraser Balmain join Elrington in the front row with Ben Morgan linking up with Davidson in the second row.
The backrow is made up of Jordy Reid, Jack Clement and Lewis Ludlow, who captains the side.
George Skivington is looking forward to the fixture.
“Saints are a good team. They’re four or five years into their journey with their group and their coaching team. They were knocking on the door of the top four last year. They play some great running rugby and they’ve got a good physical pack and they can open teams up. They did that against Ospreys last weekend.
“They’ve got a couple of good new signings who look to be really sharp and they’ll fit the Premiership well so it’s a slightly different challenge from last year. They’ve been building nicely for a few years and I respect that.”
Gloucester Rugby
15. Kyle Moyle
14. Jonny May *
13. Tom Seabrook *
12. Billy Twelvetrees
11. Ollie Thorley *
10. Lloyd Evans *
9. Ben Meehan
1. Harry Elrington
2. Jack Singleton
3. Fraser Balmain
4. Ben Morgan
5. Andrew Davidson
6. Jordy Reid
7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *
8. Jack Clement *
16. Henry Walker *
17. Jamal Ford-Robinson
18. Kirill Gotovtsev
19. Freddie Clarke *
20. Ruan Ackermann
21. Stephen Varney *
22. Adam Hastings
23. Giorgi Kveseladze
*Denotes Academy player or graduate from the Gloucester Rugby Academy
Update on Injury Announcements
Chief Operating Officer, Alex Brown, wanted to clarify the Club's position on injury updates ahead of the new season.
“We have made the decision to not share weekly injury updates alongside our team announcements this season. This decision has been taken by the management team in respect of the players, who, at times, may not wish for their injuries to be shared whilst they go through rehabilitation.
"We know from the Fans’ Forum that this is something fans wanted to see, however we hope that you can understand our reasoning with this, and we appreciate your support.”