1
Gloucester change two for Prem Cup final as Pollard returns for Tigers
By Josh Raisey
Gloucester and Leicester Tigers have named their squads for the Premiership Rugby Cup final at Kingsholm on Friday, with the first piece of silverware of the season up for grabs.
George Skivington has made only two changes to his Gloucester side that beat the Exeter Chiefs in the semi-final, with Val Rapava-Ruskin set to make his first appearance of the season. The 31-year-old has been selected at loosehead prop after recovering from a knee operation.
Winger Ollie Thorley is the other change in the squad, who replaces Josh Hathaway on the left wing.
Leicester have made four changes from the squad that overcame the Championship's Ealing Trailfinders in the semi-final, with World Cup winner Handre Pollard being the notable inclusion in the squad.
The South African has won a World Cup since making his first appearance in the competition against Sale Sharks earlier in the season.
Gloucester XV
15. Lloyd Evans
14. Alex Hearle
13. Max Llewellyn
12. Seb Atkinson*
11. Ollie Thorley*
10. George Barton*
9. Caolan Englefield
1. Val Rapava-Ruskin
2. George McGuigan
3. Kirill Gotovtsev
4. Freddie Clarke*
5. Cam Jordan*
6. Ruan Ackermann
7. Lewis Ludlow* (C)
8. Zach Mercer
Replacements
16. Seb Blake*
17. Harry Elrington
18. Jamal Ford-Robinson
19. Arthur Clark*
20. Jack Clement*
21. Charlie Chapman*
22. Louis Hillman-Cooper*
23. Josh Hathaway*
Leicester Tigers XV
15 Mike Brown [22]
14 Josh Bassett [12]
13 Matt Scott [75]
12 Dan Kelly [75]
11 Ollie Hassell-Collins [14]
10 Handré Pollard [26]
9 Tom Whiteley [23]
1 Francois van Wyk [47]
2 Finn Theobald-Thomas [8]
3 Joe Heyes [137]
4 Harry Wells [191]
5 Sam Carter [14]
6 Hanro Liebenberg [100]
7 Matt Rogerson [16]
8 Kyle Hatherell [15]
Replacements
16 Archie Vanes [12]
17 James Whitcombe [47]
18 Dan Richardson [16]
19 Olly Cracknell [35]
20 Emeka Ilione [19]
21 Sam Edwards [12]
22 Jamie Shillcock [20]
23 Phil Cokanasiga [12]
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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