Gloucester name side for Challenge Cup opener

Australian Billy Meakes will make his first Gloucester start with Brive the visitors to Kingsholm in the first round of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Meakes has been a regular feature in the first team squad since joining the club in February, and was a star of the club’s Sevens exploits in the summer, but will get his first start alongside Billy Twelvetrees in midfield.
His inclusion is one of just three changes to the side that started at Saracens last Saturday as Gloucester look for continuity as they kick off their European campaign.
The other new faces are Yann Thomas, who, although he has featured in all six Premiership matches, makes his first start of the season at loosehead and James Hudson who returns in the second row.
Gloucester will be looking to maintain the progress that they have made as a side in recent weeks and build on a series of improving performances in the Aviva Premiership.
Director of Rugby David Humphreys said: “The difficulty this week is that we don’t know what sort of team Brive are going to send across. They’ve come off the back of some tough Top 14 games, so we’re in a very similar position.
“We’re just don’t know the opposition as well as we do every week in the Premiership. So, as we’ve talked about a lot in the last six weeks, we’ve focused very much on ourselves and about how we’re going to play.
“It is difficult coming off the back of a five day turnaround and two such tough games. But, at the same time, both teams are in the same situation so we’ve just got to go out and treat it as we would any normal game.
“We’re excited about the new competition, we’re excited about a different style of play. We’re excited about what are probably going to be different challenges and pressures. But we’re looking forward to it.”
Gloucester: Rob Cook; Charlie Sharples, Billy Meakes, Billy Twelvetrees (Capt.), Jonny May; James Hook, Greig Laidlaw; Yann Thomas, Richard Hibbard, John Afoa; Tom Savage, James Hudson; Sione Kalamafoni, Matt Kvesic, Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Darren Dawidiuk, Nick Wood, Sila Puafisi, Elliott Stooke, Ross Moriarty, Dan Robson, Billy Burns, Mark Atkinson.
Brive: Alfi Mafi; Elia Radikedike, Baptiste Delage, Thomas Sanchou, Guillaume Namy; Riaan Swanepoel, Nicolas Bézy; Karlen Asieshvili, Louis Acosta, Damien Jourdain; Peet Marais, Russlan Boukerou; Hugues Briatte, Poutasi Luafutu (Capt.), Kieran Murphy.
Replacements: Thomas Acquier, Damien Lavergne, Yusuf Tuncer, Victor Lebas, Fabien Sanconnie, Damien Neveu, Anderson Neisen, Hugo Veyssiere.