Gloucester have retained only six players from the starting line-up that won 33-26 in Parma against Zebre last weekend for tomorrow’s second leg in this European Rugby Challenge Cup double-header. Ed Slater is one of the new faces and will captain the side.

Gloucester welcome the Italian side to Kingsholm knowing that they require a win to keep in touch with Pau at the top of pool three, with the French side having picked up a bonus point win over Agen yesterday evening.

Only Mariano Galarza, Jake Polledri and Freddie Clarke keep their places in the pack, while Ben Vellacott, Mark Atkinson and Charlie Sharples are the trio retained in the back line.

Charlie Sharples starts at full-back with Tom Hudson sidelined after picking up an ankle knock last weekend, while David Halaifonua (Tonga) and Motu Matu’u (Samoa) return after Autumn international duty. Loosehead Cameron Orr makes his first start of the season.

Assistant coach Tim Taylor is aware that Gloucester will have to be prepared for another physical battle against Zebre this weekend despite last Saturday’s success.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game over there last week, they perform well at home,” Taylor said. “They’ve adapted their game over the last year or so, they keep the ball alive very well and have a good offloading game.

“I don’t think we physically fronted up as well as we have in previous weeks and they got a lot of front foot ball. In attack we didn’t carry hard enough and weren’t physical enough at the breakdown. They’ve been big work-ons this week.

“Fair play to the boys, we didn’t have loads of sets in attack for long periods, but we managed to score five tries. It’s a good sign that we didn’t play at our best but we came away with the bonus point win.

“We don’t know what sort of team they’ll bring, but we know it’s going to be a tough old game. They came here two years ago, we scored three tries in the first half and then none in the second. It’ll be a tough battle and we’ll have to front up physically.”

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