Saturday will be a day to remember for second row Simon Linsell, a summer signing from Hartpury RFC, who will not only make his full debut for Gloucester but will also captain the side against London Irish.

He is no stranger to the skipper’s armband, having captained Hartpury last season in their Greene King IPA Championship campaign. He is joined in the starting line-up for the Premiership Rugby Cup clash by another close season arrival in Jamal Ford-Robinson.

Linsell is a one-time member of the Gloucester Academy and is in good company because the rest of the starting XV, apart from Ford-Robinson, are either current members of the Academy or have graduated from the Academy into the first team squad.

That theme continues among the replacements, where only South African prop Ruan Dreyer isn’t an Academy product.

Trevor Woodman is in charge of the team this week, and he said that everyone is highly motivated to play some competitive rugby after a long pre-season although he is conscious that the Exiles will have a point to prove.

“Everyone, players and coaches alike, have worked incredibly hard to get to this point,” Woodman said. “Everyone is excited and can’t wait until Saturday.

“We’re looking at this block of games as a chance to experiment, to try new things and give some young players game time in a Gloucester Rugby shirt and to experience what it’s like to play at Kingsholm.

“We’re expecting Irish to be excited to be back in the Premiership, they’ve worked hard to get back here. They’ve recruited really well to try and make that transition from the Championship and they’ll want to prove to anyone that they deserve to be back.”

Gloucester: 15. Reece Dunn; 14. Jake Morris, 13. Tom Stanton, 12. Tom Seabrook, 11. Louis Rees-Zammit; 10. Lloyd Evans, 9. Charlie Chapman; 1. Alex Seville, 2. Henry Walker, 3. Jamal Ford-Robinson; 4. Alex Craig, 5. Simon Linsell (capt); 6. Josh Gray, 7. Aaron Hinkley, 8. Jack Clement. Replacements: 16. Ethan Hunt, 17. Ciaran Knight, 18. Ruan Dreyer, 19. Harry Butler, 20. Joe Howard, 21. Stephen Varney, 22. George Barton, 23. Alex Morgan