Gloucester face a long trip north for tomorrow night’s Aviva Premiership Rugby game (kick-off 7.45pm) at Newcastle Falcons and make four changes to their starting line-up.

The Cherry and Whites travel to Kingston Park on the back of three successive Premiership wins, but will be up against an opponent who have lost only one of their last seven games at Kingston Park in all tournaments.

Three of the changes are in the pack as Gloucester shuffle their resources – James Hanson, Jeremy Thrush and Jake Polledri coming in for Richard Hibbard, Ed Slater and Freddie Clarke respectively.

The final change to the starting line-up sees Henry Purdy replace Henry Trinder on the wing, the latter picking up a knock in training this week.

Head coach Johan Ackermann said that last weekend’s win over Saracens was a positive step forward for the group but that the trip to Newcastle will create just as tough a challenge.

“It was a good moment, a moment that we have to treasure and enjoy,” he said. “But, saying that, everything started back to normal on Monday. There’s a massive challenge ahead of us on Friday and one game isn’t going to mean a lot if we don’t back it up.

“A good result always builds confidence, but it wasn’t a perfect game. We showed a lot of heart in a great defensive effort in that first half, and then some better play in the second half. So, there are definitely things to take forward but stuff we have to improve as well.

“We’ve put certain things in place to get over the travel, it is a fair distance on the bus. But the team have shown they can perform at a good level and it’s for us to control what we can control – our standards and how we want to play.

“It will be quite a disappointment if we pitch up there and don’t perform to our standards. But we have to respect that Newcastle aren’t a bad team. You can’t look at the result from last weekend and think you’re going to arrive and get a victory.”

Meanwhile, Scott Lawson will make his 100th competitive appearance for Newcastle.

The 36-year-old is in his fifth season with the Kingston Park Club, the 46-times-capped Scotland hooker forming part of a side showing five changes from the one which started last weekend’s match at Wasps.

Three of those come in the back-line, where an all-Argentinian centre pairing of Juan Pablo Socino and Belisario Agulla will be fed by fly-half Joel Hodgson.

Up front Will Witty joins the second row alongside Sean Robinson, who is making his 50th Falcons appearance, while Nili Latu bolsters a reshuffled back row which sees captain Will Welch sliding across to the openside flank.

Lawson said: “Coming so late in my career it’s something I probably didn’t think would happen when I joined the club four and a half years ago.

“It’s such an attritional game these days which means it can be tough to post big numbers on the appearance board. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to play a lot of games, and I’m honestly delighted to be within touching distance of the hundred.”

Director of rugby Dean Richards hailed his evergreen hooker, saying: “Scotty is a great professional who looks after the detail of his game and delivers a consistent level of performance each time he takes the field. It’s great for him to reach the hundred and I know he’ll be fired up to mark the occasion against one of his former clubs.”

Newcastle did the double over the Cherry and Whites last season but are looking to bounce back from defeat at Wasps last weekend, Richards saying: “It wasn’t anywhere near our best performance but we have moved on quickly from that, taking on board the lessons and showing a huge focus in training this week.

“Gloucester play a very wide game and also have threats around the ruck at times with their scrum-half, so we’ve really got to be on our mettle from a defensive point of view.

“We’ve got our own thoughts on how we can attack and exploit their defence, and we’re just looking forward to going out there and trying to win the game.”

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Belisario Agulla, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Sam Stuart, 1 Rob Vickers, 2 Scott Lawson, 3 Jon Welsh, 4 Will Witty, 5 Sean Robinson, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Will Welch (captain), 8 Nili Latu. Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Calum Green, 20 Gary Graham, 21 Ruaridh Dawson, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Chris Harris.

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