Gloucester reshuffle for LV= Cup
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:41
Injuries and international call ups have forced Bryan Redpath into several changes as he names his Gloucester line-up for the LV= Cup semifinal against Cardiff Blues on Sunday.
The return of the Six Nations sees Gloucester lose players to Italy, Scotland and Wales in the shape of Marco Bortolami, Rory Lawson, Scott Lawson and Gareth Delve.
Already ruled out due to injury were Dave Attwood, Luke Narraway and Greg Somerville and added to that list this week was fullback Olly Morgan who picked up a knock whilst training with England this week.
Halfbacks Andy Williams and Tim Taylor also miss out due to injuries suffered at London Wasps last weekend.
As a result, England under 20 international Freddie Burns will turn out at fullback and former under 20 international Dave Lewis returns at scrumhalf.
Paul Doran-Jones is preferred to Pierre Capdevielle at tighthead and a reshuffled back row sees Peter Buxton on the blindside and Jake Boer packing down at No.8.
Head coach Redpath knows that the Blues will be a tough proposition on Sunday even though they have been affected by several international call-ups.
"Cardiff have been a pretty effective side over the past few years and I think that last season was probably their best season for a long, long time," Redpath said.
"Even with several internationals away, they've still got a very good squad. It's a very big challenge for us. It's a semifinal, it's a one-off game. It isn't four points at stake, it's win or lose."
"But, we've got a game to play no matter whoever takes the pitch for them. Our focus will be on the ones who are playing and not the ones who are missing. They'll still have a lot of good players in their side."
"We're aware of how dangerous they are, they've beaten us three or four times. We'll just look to learn from last week and push on to Sunday."
Gloucester: 15 Freddie Burns, 14
James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (captain), 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Jake Boer, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Will James, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Rupert Harden/ Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Adam Eustace, 20 Andrew Hazell, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Tim Molenaar, 23 Tom Voyce.
Date: Sunday, March 14
Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
Kick-off: 12:15 GMT
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)