Gloucester ready for GP top-two showdown

Gloucester’s recent better form, the improvement in the Kingsholm injury list and the addition of All Blacks prop Greg Somerville to the squad all add up to brighter prospects for the rest of the season. But that outlook will be put to a severe test when they visit Premiership leaders London Irish at that stadium with a strange name on Saturday.

It’s clearly the match of the day as first take on second, the two old rivals locked together on 27 points at the top of the GP table, Irish ahead because they have conceded less points.
Irish have been going great guns lately and while many of their top players are hardly from the Emerald Isle, they have a great squad that plays attractive, attacking rugby featuring some really exciting players.

A bit like Glaws, then.
Irish have won their last nine games, yet against Glaws they have won only one of the last five – the result that ended Gloucester’s unbeaten GP run last season.
Glaws coach Dean Ryan, once he had denied rumours that he’s going to join Wasps as coach next season, told the Citizen: "It's a big game. They are becoming more and more one of those top four clashes.
"To have to go to their home ground is going to be a big challenge for us. We've got some confidence, we've been winning regularly now and we're playing some good stuff. So we'll go and have a crack at it and see how we get on."
On reports linking him with a move to wasps, Ryan simply said: "I’ve had no conversation with anybody.”
He has to decide on whether Somerville is ready yet for his full Glaws debut, but the good news is that Anthony Allen (ankle), Iain Balshaw (groin) and Alex Brown (jaw) are all expected to be available after injury. 
Andy Hazell, Gareth Delve, Akapusi Qera and James Simpson-Daniel are all definitely out, but most are close to a comeback either before the end of December or early in 2009.
The Irish game is a great start to festive season - it will be a perfect one if Glaws get a result.