Val Rapava Ruskin will make his first Gloucester start in tomorrow night’s Aviva Premiership Rugby clash against Worcester Warriors at Kingsholm (kick off 7.45pm).

He has already made two appearances as a replacement and his selection at loosehead sees him part of a side that shows four changes to the starting line-up from the one that was beaten at Leicester.

It also means that Rapava Ruskin will make his first start in cherry and white against his former club.

The only other change in the pack sees Freddie Clarke start at blindside flanker as Head Coach Johan Ackermann continues his policy of rotation in the first few weeks of the season.

In the backs, Mark Atkinson is back after picking up an injury in the opening-day victory over Exeter Chiefs, while Billy Burns returns having missed out at Leicester last weekend.

After two defeats on the road, Gloucester will be looking to get back to winning ways in front of their own supporters against an opponent still searching for their first win of the season.

Ackermann admitted this week that it’s good to be back at Kingsholm, but that Gloucester have to be able to play their game anywhere.

“I’m a big believer that we must be able to play anywhere, anytime, to perform at the standards you set yourself,” he said. “I don’t want to use ‘away from home’ as an excuse, I don’t like that.

“But, saying that, you have to be proud of your home field and make it as tough as possible for any visiting side. But it is great to be back, we were disappointed in our performances over the past two weeks and hopefully we’ll give our supporters a much better performance.”

So do the players have a point to prove after two consecutive defeats?

“I hope so because we haven’t performed to the best of our ability,” said Ackermann. “We can only make our supporters proud if we start performing so there’s no better time than Friday night.”

And on the threat posed by Worcester, he added: “I don’t place too much value on the jersey that you’re playing against. I respect the opposition, that value is high. But I don’t think your motivation should change from team to team. We weren’t good enough last weekend and we have to fix that.

“I don’t like to look at form. Any time can beat any other on any given day. They’ll come all guns firing and we have to be switched on and come out with our best attitude.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Mills returns from injury to start at fly-half for Warriors and will come up against his former club as Director of Rugby Gary Gold makes three changes to his starting 15.

Peter Stringer is handed his first start at scrum-half in the absence of Jonny Arr (concussion) while Alafoti Faosiliva slots into the back row in place of the injured Matt Cox (bicep).

There is a welcome return for summer signing David Denton who could make his debut from the replacements’ bench after recovering from a calf problem, as well as new loan signing Jono Kitto, who joined from Leicester Tigers earlier this week.

Dean Hammond is also restored to the squad among the replacements.

Gloucester: 15. Jason Woodward; 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Billy Twelvetrees, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Ollie Thorley, 10. Billy Burns, 9. Willi Heinz (capt), 1. Val Rapava Ruskin, 2. Motu Matu’u, 3. John Afoa, 4. Ed Slater, 5. Jeremy Thrush, 6. Freddie Clarke, 7. Jacob Rowan, 8. Ruan Ackermann.  Replacements: 16. Richard Hibbard, 17. Josh Hohneck, 18. Gareth Denman, 19. Tom Savage, 20. Lewis Ludlow, 21. Ben Vellacott, 22. Henry Trinder, 23. David Halaifonua. Unavailable for selection: Fraser Balmain, Mariano Galarza, Tom Marshall, Paddy McAllister, Ben Morgan, Ross Moriarty, Matt Scott, Andy Symons, Owen Williams

Worcester Warriors: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Ryan Mills, 9 Peter Stringer, 1 Ryan Bower, 2 Jack Singleton, 3 Biyi Alo, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (C), 5 Pierce Phillips, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 7 Sam Lewis, 8 GJ van Velze. Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 20 David Denton, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Dean Hammond, 23 Jamie Shillcock