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Hooker James Hanson starts as Gloucester travel to Bristol Bears for Premiership clash

All Areas > Sport > Rugby Union

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Thursday, 28th February 2019, 15:30

Johan Ackermann Johan Ackermann

Gloucester make one change for their Gallagher Premiership trip to Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate tomorrow (7.45pm) as they look to make it three wins in a row after their impressive victories over high-flying Exeter and Saracens.

Australian international hooker James Hanson comes into the front row, with Franco Marais named among the replacements, as Gloucester continue to push for a top-four finish.

The one other change to the matchday squad sees loosehead prop Alex Seville named among the replacements.

The first Premiership meeting between the two sides at Kingsholm back in September was a hard-fought affair, with the Cherry and Whites finally coming out on top, and Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann is expecting another tough encounter.

“It’s going to be massive,” he said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position in the past two weeks, but Bristol are a side that plays great rugby, they have a lot of confidence and they can score great tries, they average over 30 points at home.

“For us it’s important to keep the same intensity and that’s what we’ve focused on this week, to make sure that we don’t drop off in training and stick to the normal routine as far as possible.

“We’re not getting carried away. Two wins is a bonus and we can take confidence from that. They were wins over two leading sides but we’re not kidding ourselves, they had some players out and were missing experience and quality.

“We have to keep looking at ourselves, and keep on improving as the challenge is going to get tougher. Bristol have got a very good squad and some X Factor players. They’ve got continuity in their team and bring a different challenge to any other Premiership team.”

Gloucester: 15. Jason Woodward; 14. Tom Marshall, 13. Billy Twelvetrees, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Ollie Thorley; 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Willi Heinz (capt); 1. Josh Hohneck, 2. James Hanson, 3. Fraser Balmain; 4. Ed Slater, 5. Franco Mostert; 6. Ruan Ackermann, 7. Jaco Kriel, 8. Ben Morgan. Replacements: 16. Franco Marais, 17. Alex Seville, 18. Ciaran Knight, 19. Freddie Clarke, 20. Jake Polledri, 21. Callum Braley, 22. Owen Williams, 23. Matt Banahan. Unavailable for selection: Ruan Dreyer, Lloyd Evans, Todd Gleave, Tom Hudson, Val Rapava Ruskin, Charlie Sharples.

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