Preview: Preview: Gloucester vs Newcastle Red Bulls - prediction, team news, lineups

Gloucester welcome Newcastle Red Bulls to Kingsholm Stadium this Saturday afternoon for the final gameweek of this year's regular Premiership Rugby season.

The Cherry and Whites suffered late defeat against Northampton Saints in their previous fixture, while the Red Bulls came from behind to beat Sale Sharks at Kingston Park.

Match preview

After losing nine of their first 10 league matches this season, Gloucester were left dwindling towards the bottom of the Premiership table and highly unlikely to be playing for anything come June.

However, following some positive results over the previous few gameweeks, the Cherry and Whites have pulled away from the foot of the table and given themselves a huge chance of competing amongst Europe’s best sides next season.

Picking up impressive wins at home to both Sale Sharks and the Exeter Chiefs in recent weeks, George Skivington’s men currently occupy eighth place in the table, which would earn them a spot in next season’s European Champions Cup.

However, with Harlequins trailing them by only a point and having a superior points difference, Gloucester know that only a bonus point win will confirm that spot come the end of play on Saturday.

The home side will be quietly confident that they can achieve this though, having claimed maximum points in five of their previous seven matches against Newcastle Red Bulls at Kingsholm.

After another year of rebuilding their squad, Newcastle will be hoping that they can find some positives to build on and be fighting for positions in next season’s league campaign.

Winning just two of their 17 Premiership matches this season, Stephen Jones’s men sit firmly at the foot of the table, tallying only 12 points and trailing ninth-place Harlequins by 14.

As Newcastle’s fourth consecutive year rooted to the bottom draws to a close, so does Jones’s time at the club, with the Welshman making way for Dan McFarland at the end of the season.

After clawing back a 25-point deficit in the second half to beat Sale Sharks 45-42 on Saturday evening, the Red Bulls will be optimistic that they can give the 48-year-old a sufficient send off and do the league double over Gloucester this season.

Gloucester Premiership form:

Newcastle Red Bulls Premiership form:

Newcastle Red Bulls (all competitions):

Team News

Gloucester have made a couple of changes to the pack that narrowly fell short last weekend as Ciaran Knight and Deian Gwynne make way for Val Rapava-Ruskin and Matias Alemanno, who makes his 100th appearance for the club.

However, Skivington has opted to continue with the same backline, with Ollie Thorley and Ben Loader either side of Seb Atkinson and Max Llewellyn in the centre.

The Red Bulls have also made two changes to the scrum with Murray McCallum replacing Richard Palframan on the front-row and Freddie Lockwood coming in for Amanaki Mafi at number eight.

Christian Wade also misses out on the wing, dropping to the bench as Elliott Obatoyinbo pairs his brother Harrison on the flanks.

Gloucester starting lineup:

15 Redshaw, 14 Loader, 13 Llewellyn, 12 S.Atkinson, 11 Thorley, 10 C.Atkinson, 9 Englefield; 1 Rapava-Ruskin, 2 Blake, 3 Fasogbon, 4 Clark, 5 Alemanno, 6 Thomas, 7 Venter, 8 Trenholm

Replacements:

16 Innard, 17 Bleuler, 18 C.Knight, 19 Gwynne, 20 Clement, 21 Austin, 22 W.Knight. 23 Edwards-Giraud

Newcastle Red Bulls starting lineup:

15 Grayson, 14 H.Obatoyinbo, 13 Hearle, 12 Arnold, 11 E.Obatoyinbo, 10 Connon, 9 Benitez Cruz; 1 Hancock, 2 McGuigan, 3 McCallum, 4 Hodgson, 5 Scott, 6 Leatherbarrow, 7 Christie, 8 Lockwood

Replacements:

16 Fletcher, 17 Clark, 18 Palframan, 19 Cardall, 20 Parsons, 21 Elliott, 22 Healy, 23 Wade

We say: Gloucester 45-22 Newcastle Red Bulls

After their pulsating victory last weekend, it will be interesting to see whether it will be the Red Bulls side that faced Sale turning up this Saturday, or the one that lost by 57 points to Bath just a fortnight prior.

We think that the visitors will experience some joy over the course of the afternoon, but will ultimately fall short as Gloucester secure a bonus point victory and qualify for next season's Champions Cup.

>Click here to read the full previews of every Premiership Rugby game this weekend