Northampton vs Gloucester Preview

Northampton vs Glousceter

Gloucester travel to Franklins Gardens today to take on Northampton in what is already a must win game for both sides at this early stage in the season. Both Northampton and Gloucester would have harboured title ambitions at the start of the season, but with both teams languishing in 9^th and 10^th position respectively, a win is badly needed for both sides.

The Saints will fancy this one at home, despite the fact that they have won just one match from three this season. The European break appeared to do them some good, picking up wins against both Llanelli and Glasgow, and they should be brimming with confidence as a squad. New signing Victor Matfield is poised to make his debut, being named amongst the replacements. There is just one change to last weekends starting line up, with Kahn Fotuali’i coming in to start at scrum half ahead of Lee Dickson, who drops to the bench. That means the like of George Pisi and Ben Foden, who looked back to their best last week, continue behind the scrum.

Gloucester have enjoyed a slightly better start to the season, picking up two wins from their opening four matches. The last two weeks saw them play what can only be described as weakened sides against their Challenge Cup competition, but still they came away with two wins from the European break. In team news, English international Jonny May returns to the starting fifteen, as does Rob Cook and Willie Heinz in a strong backline. Billy Twelvetrees captains the side from outhalf.

Two proud English sides with plenty of history, this one is guaranteed to be a tight battle that could go down to the wire. Northampton will be slight favourites, but Gloucester are by no means underdogs and will fancy picking up a third away win in their last four. Follow the action from 7:45 on the Ultimate Rugby app.