Gloucester v Saints

[Epaminondas Pules]

GLOUCESTER RUGBY vs NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Gallagher PREM, Round 2
Sunday 5 October, 2025
Kingsholm Stadium
Kick-off: 3pm

15 George Hendy
14 Edoardo Todaro
13 Rory Hutchinson
12 Tom Litchfield
11 James Martin – Gallagher PREM debut
10 Anthony Belleau
9 Archie McParland

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Henry Walker
3 Elliot Millar Mills
4 Alex Coles
5 JJ Van Der Mescht
6 Angus Scott-Young
7 Tom Pearson
8 Callum Chick (c)

Replacements:
16 Robbie Smith
17 Danilo Fischetti
18 Cleopas Kundiona – Northampton Saints debut
19 Tom Lockett
20 Fyn Brown
21 Jonny Weimann
22 Toby Thame
23 James Pater

Not considered for selection:
Emeka Atuanya, Amena Caqusau, Trevor Davison, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Sam Graham, Tom James, Josh Kemeny, Curtis Langdon, Alex Mitchell, Chunya Munga, Henry Pollock, James Ramm, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith, Charlie Ulcoq, Tom West and Craig Wright.

GLOUCESTER TEAM TO FACE SAINTS:
15 Charlie Atkinson, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Seb Atkinson (vc), 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Tomos Williams (c); 1 Ciaran Knight, 2 Seb Blake, 3 Afolabi Fasogbon, 4 Freddie Thomas, 5 Cam Jordan, 6 Josh Basham, 7 James Venter, 8 Jack Mann.
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Archie McArthur, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Hugh Bokenham, 21 Harry Taylor, 22 Caolan Englefield, 23 Josiah Edwards-Giraud.

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Jonathan Cook and Jamie Leahy
No.4: Jonathan Healy
TMO: David Rose

[Adam_P]

Horrendous start to the season for player availability for Saints. Dont fancy our chances here. You can make an entire strong team from those not available:

Tom West
Curtis Langdon
Trevor Davison
Emeka Atuanya
Chunya Munga
Josh Kemeny
Henry Pollock
Sam Graham

Alex Mitchell
Fin Smith
Ollie Sleightholme
Fraser Dingwall
Tommy Freeman
James Ramm
George Furbank

[fivepointer]

Saints arent alone in struggling with injuries. Every club seems to have several regulars unavailable right now.

This could be a good watch. Both sides play a very attractive brand of rugby and theres usually plenty of tries.

[Adam_P]

Indeed - sounds as if Glos might be iffy on front rowers too.

Pater on the bench is one to watch from Saints. Very lean and green as a young man at the moment, but very talented.

[Captainhaircut]

Where is Glister? Not listed on injured but surely ahead of Pater in the pecking order.

[Adam_P]

Think he had an operation at the end of last season, so maybe still on the return journey from that

[FKAS]

I thought I saw him on a Champ team sheet for this weekend, might check in a minute when I have more internet. Might have been Cambridge.

[twitchy]

JJ van der Mescht looks like he should be driving a truck with a confederate flag in one of those horror films.

[Oakboy]

The extent to which the Saints' 9, 10, 12 and 13 are outplaying their Gloucester opposite numbers is a surprise to me.

[Oakboy]

The extent to which the Saints' 9, 10, 12 and 13 are outplaying their Gloucester opposite numbers is a surprise to me.

[FKAS]

The extent to which the Saints' 9, 10, 12 and 13 are outplaying their Gloucester opposite numbers is a surprise to me.

Seb Atkinson and Joseph combine to try and address that start of the second half.

[twitchy]

This is the most tedious passage of play I have seen for a while.

[FKAS]

Gloucester really didn't make the most of that period Vs 13 men.

[FKAS]

Maybe controversial but is Ross Byrne Gloucester again overpaying a for a solid flyhalf. See also Hastings and Owen Williams for similar recent examples.

[Adam_P]

As if we are about to lose a 30+ point lead for the second week in a row. Awful stuff.

On the bright side, Hutchinson has had an excellent game.

[FKAS]

Yeah, who wound up Hutchinson. Never seen him so keen to smash people, not sure I've ever seen him smash people at all before. He did get stepped by a tighthead for that try though. Fasogbon with the spin, the step and the splash. Any back would be delighted with that, coming from a 20 stone tighthead it's outrageous.

[Adam_P]

Three jackals in the first half too. Got out of bed a flanker today

[FKAS]

Three jackals in the first half too. Got out of bed a flanker today

I've only caught the second half but he's looked good at scrum time as well. We've spent years hoping we'd have more than one decent tighthead for England and currently we've got four decent ones ready to go. I hope Stable Bigpush is able to get them all minutes over the course of the Autumn.

[Captainhaircut]

Maybe controversial but is Ross Byrne Gloucester again overpaying a for a solid flyhalf. See also Hastings and Owen Williams for similar recent examples.

Not sure it’s controversial. Looks a dreadful signing.

[Adam_P]

Three jackals in the first half too. Got out of bed a flanker today

I've only caught the second half but he's looked good at scrum time as well. We've spent years hoping we'd have more than one decent tighthead for England and currently we've got four decent ones ready to go. I hope Stable Bigpush is able to get them all minutes over the course of the Autumn.

Sorry I meant Hutch on the jackals!

I do have most hope for Fasogbon of the tighthead prospects, he's an absolute unit

[Oakboy]

I don't understand why sides keep battering away pointlessly for advantage when it is running down the clock for the opposition's yellow cards. Gloucester did that against 13. Why not just drop the ball, go back to the penalty and keep time on the cards?

[FKAS]

Three jackals in the first half too. Got out of bed a flanker today

I've only caught the second half but he's looked good at scrum time as well. We've spent years hoping we'd have more than one decent tighthead for England and currently we've got four decent ones ready to go. I hope Stable Bigpush is able to get them all minutes over the course of the Autumn.

Sorry I meant Hutch on the jackals!

I do have most hope for Fasogbon of the tighthead prospects, he's an absolute unit

Yeah agree on Fasogbon, it's not right a tighthead that size is that agile.

Hutchinson, yeah the only times I've thought of him as a good defender was when he's shown the ability to bounce back to his feet and contest at the breakdown. Skillful player who's generally lacked the physicality to step up, if he carries on like that then it might be a big season for him.

[Puja]

Only watched the first half fully, as got bored and went to the highlights - fair to say the second half was quite different!

SAtkinson had an absolute mare in that first half. Dropped simple passes, made a godsawful mistake for the first Saints try to tackle the wroong player, threw a pass to nobody, threw a pass to the floor, made zero impact on the gainline - was like everything he touched went to shit. Did he get better second half?

Puja

[Oakboy]

Only watched the first half fully, as got bored and went to the highlights - fair to say the second half was quite different!

SAtkinson had an absolute mare in that first half. Dropped simple passes, made a godsawful mistake for the first Saints try to tackle the wroong player, threw a pass to nobody, threw a pass to the floor, made zero impact on the gainline - was like everything he touched went to shit. Did he get better second half?

Puja

He did within the collective effort. His overall performance did his chances no good, I imagine.

Are you a Williams fan? Every time I watch him I wonder. His best is good, I suppose but his overall 80 minute contributions seem to add up to less than the hype. McParland out-played him in the first half.

[Puja]

Only watched the first half fully, as got bored and went to the highlights - fair to say the second half was quite different!

SAtkinson had an absolute mare in that first half. Dropped simple passes, made a godsawful mistake for the first Saints try to tackle the wroong player, threw a pass to nobody, threw a pass to the floor, made zero impact on the gainline - was like everything he touched went to shit. Did he get better second half?

Puja

He did within the collective effort. His overall performance did his chances no good, I imagine.

Are you a Williams fan? Every time I watch him I wonder. His best is good, I suppose but his overall 80 minute contributions seem to add up to less than the hype. McParland out-played him in the first half.

Tomos? He's got a glorious pass on him, which is generally what I favour in my preferred 9s, so I'm generally in favour.

Puja