Preview: Gloucester v Bath
September 04 2009
Summer signing Dave Attwood will make his full debut as Gloucester kick off their Guinness Premiership campaign against Bath on Sunday.
Second row Attwood, who joined Gloucester from Bristol during the summer, has impressed during pre-season and will partner Alex Brown in the second row.
Also making their full Gloucester debuts are centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, who will face his former club, fly-half Nicky Robinson, a summer recruit from Cardiff Blues and Tom Voyce who joined from London Wasps.
Voyce will start at full-back with England international Olly Morgan not quite recovered from a dead leg whilst Alasdair Strokosch, who didn't feature in pre-season, comes in on the blindside.
The two teams have already met once so far this season when they played out a 19-19 draw in August in a game to mark the Testimonials of Andrew Hazell and Lee Mears.
However, that game will count for little as the two giants of West Country rugby aim to kick off their Guinness Premiership campaigns in style.
Gloucester Rugby Head Coach Bryan Redpath admitted that Bath will be a big challenge in his first match as Head Coach.
"I wouldn't necessarily have picked it as my first game but I don't have any worries about it. It's a great way to test us and everything we've tried to do over the past three months," he said.
"We'll be tested on Sunday as Bath are a very good rugby playing side. What I'm looking for is for every player to live up to what we've been talking about and practicing all summer. We're just desperate to get on with it."
"For now, I'm really looking forward to Gloucester Rugby running out at Kingsholm on Sunday with our loyal, committed supporters getting behind us. They are a massive influence on us as a team but we do have to give them something back to get them going and that's what we aim to do."
Meanwhile, Bath's undefeated pre-season record this summer has put the team in good stead for the match against Gloucester on Sunday and Head Coach Steve Meehan is confident that the players are in good enough shape to take on the challenge.
"The first match of the season would be great to win, whether you are home or away. My feelings are that we are in better shape than we have been in our previous three visits to Gloucester, so it's our best chance.
"I am really pleased with the way the new guys have knuckled down and understood what it is that we try to do here," admitted Meehan. "They have brought a little bit of their experiences and enthusiasm into training and it makes life a lot easier when they are prepared to come in and work hard."
With this in mind, Meehan is under no illusions that whilst he is happy with the team, the first match will be far from easy.
"When you go to Gloucester you have to set out your stall from the very first minute. It will be quite a physical confrontation and if you can determine what is going on through good play and good strategy, then you take the Shed out of the equation as well. And if you can quiet them down, you will know you are doing well."
Form: Gloucester Rugby have lost their last four games in the Guinness Premiership since a 24-22 victory over London Wasps at Kingsholm on 14 March. Gloucester's 6-13 defeat to Worcester last time out at Kingsholm ended a nine game home winning run in the Premiership. Bath Rugby have won their opening match of a new season for the past two years. Bath have won just one of their last six away games: 15-14 at Newcastle in the Guinness Premiership on 19 April. Gloucester have lost just one of their last half a dozen encounters with Bath in the Premiership: 5-10 at Bath on 4 January 2008. The two teams also met in round one in 2006 where Gloucester won 42-19 at Kingsholm.
Gloucester: 15 Tom Voyce, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Andrew Hazell, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawiduik, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Apo Satala, 22 Dave Lewis, 23 Freddie Burns.
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Tom Cheeseman, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Matt Carraro, 10 Ryan Davis, 9 Michael Claassens (c), 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Andy Beattie, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 David Wilson, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 David Barnes, 18 Duncan Bell, 19 Peter Short, 20 Jonny Faamatuainu, 21 Scott Bemand, 22 Nicky Little, 23 Matt Banahan.
Date: Sunday, September 6
Venue: Kingsholm
Kick-off: 15.30 BST
Referee: Andrew Small
