The 'volcano' returns for Gloucester
Gloucester Rugby Head Coach Bryan Redpath has welcomed back Lesley Vainikolo and Peter Buxton for the first time this season as they prepare to host Northampton at Kingsholm.
Vainikolo last appeared in the preseason friendly against Connacht when he had to leave the action early having injured his groin and, with off the field matters behind him for the time being, has been in full training this week.
Similarly, Buxton has been pushing hard for selection for the past two weekends having recovered from the foot injury that ended his 2008-9 campaign early and finally gets the nod on the blindside flank.
Elsewhere in the backline, Mike Tindall returns in the centre and resumes the captaincy, James Simpson-Daniel is restored to the starting line up and Dave Lewis gets his first start of the season at scrum half.
Up front, Marco Bortolami comes in for Alex Brown in the second row whilst Akapusi Qera replaces the suspended Andrew Hazell.
There is a welcome return on the replacements bench for crowd favourite Olivier Azam whilst Paul Doran-Jones makes the matchday 23 for the first time this season.
Each side won its respective home game when Gloucester met Northampton last season, whereas the Saints' only win at Kingsholm in their last seven visits since 2000 was 26-18 in March 2005.
Gloucester Rugby have won just one of their last six matches in all competitions: 24-5 over Bath at Kingsholm in the Guinness Premiership on 6 September. Gloucester’s only Premiership defeat at Kingsholm since the opening game of the 2008/09 season remains the 6-13 reversal to near neighbours Worcester on 21 April.
The last seven matches that Northampton Saints have played in the Guinness Premiership have all gone the way of the home side on the day, whilst the Saints’ only away victory in the Guinness Premiership since February 2007 was 22-12 at Worcester on 7 March 2009.
Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder meanwhile has insisted that he is under no illusions as to the challenge that will be posed by Gloucester this weekend.
The Cherry and Whites lost only twice at home last season, and Mallinder says that his team will have to be on top form to leave the south west with some league points.
"Kingsholm is a very hard place to play and Gloucester don’t lose very often at home," he said.
"They have recruited well over the summer and put in a good performance at Kingsholm in Round 1.
"But we took plenty of positives from our last game against Saracens and are looking to build on them tomorrow. We have finished our first two matches strongly, but we want to start well tomorrow as well and put pressure on Gloucester from the first whistle."
The Teams:
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (captain), 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Alex Brown, 20 Alasdair Strokosch, 21 Rory Lawson, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tom Voyce
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Neil Best, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Santiago Bonorino, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Regardt Dreyer, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Roger Wilson, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Barry Everitt, 23 Chris Mayor
Date: Saturday 19 September
Venue: Kingsholm
Time: 15:00 (14:00 GMT)
Referee: David Rose (71st Premiership game)