Match Preview: Gloucester seek response against unbeaten Leinster

Match Preview: Gloucester seek response against unbeaten Leinster

Gloucester Rugby will be looking to bounce back from their thrashing by Leinster Rugby when they host the unbeaten Irish province in Round 3 of the Heineken Champions Cup on Saturday.

Gloucester fielded an inexperienced side in Dublin in Round 2 and were subsequently dealt a 57-0 drubbing by the four-time champions.

But the Gallagher Premiership outfit are poised to welcome back several established stars for the reverse fixture and have already showcased their threat at Kingsholm Stadium with a 22-17 Round 1 win over Union Bordeaux-Bègles, which has left them eighth in Pool A.

Leinster, last season’s runners-up, have started this season’s competition in superb fashion, picking up maximum points from their opening games to top the pool, with their other victory an impressive 42-10 triumph at Racing 92.

Since Round 2 of the Heineken Champions Cup, Gloucester have won once in three Premiership games, while Leinster have marched to three straight victories in the United Rugby Championship.


The match kicks off at 13:00 (UK & Irish time) and will be broadcast by ITV, BT Sport, beIN SPORTS, SuperSport and FloRugby.

     
     

Key quote:

Gloucester No.8 Ben Morgan: “It’s a hard place to come – they’re going to have to be on their mettle. Again, our focus is on ourselves, make sure that we get our things right and we’ll present a challenge to them.”

Gloucester Rugby

  • Ciaran Knight and Jacob Morris conceded five and four penalties respectively in the last round – the two highest individual totals. All were in defence.
  • Giorgi Kveseladze made more offloads in Round 2 than any other player (4).
  • Gloucester currently have the lowest success rate of the kicking tee in the competition (25%).
  • Gloucester have forced more pressure errors with their kicks from hand than any other team.

Leinster Rugby

  • With two in Round 2, Caelan Doris has made as many try assists as any other player in the tournament (3).
  • James Lowe has made more clean breaks than any other player in the first two rounds (5).
  • Dan Sheehan has thrown into more lineouts than anyone else (29) and is the only player to have made more than 12 throws without missing one.
     
     

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