Let the Fun Begin

Billy Burns
By Cherry Picker
September 1 2016

Forget all the warm-up games with their lack of passion and full on contact and forget all the hype. The season starts on Friday night and there could not be better opposition than Tigers ...

It's so so important to get off to go a good start, and we are fortunate in being able to start in front of a passionate Cherry and White army.

Pre-season has been mixed with a strange sense of not being sure about what we will be served this season at Kingsholm. We will have a much better idea come 9.30 p.m. on  Friday September 2nd and if we record the game we can mull it over all weekend.

Greatest interst will be in how Scvottish internatioonal Matt Scott goes alonsgide King Billy and in what may be a the battle of the Burns' Boys - Billy for Glaws and Freddie for Tigers. Both at 10 - intriguing. Hook is on the bench.

There will be a couiple of dozen internatikonals on show altogether so quality is guaranteed Games last season between the two were tight so there's no reason to think any differently - but as for a prediction? You'd be daft to take a punt at this stage.

Tigers have the luxury of Dan Cole and Ben Youngs on the bench  and they debut World Cup winner JP Pietersen on the wing.

 

Glaws:15. Tom Marshall; 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Matt Scott, 12, Billy Twelvetrees, 11. Henry Purdy; 10. Billy Burns, 9. Greig Laidlaw (capt); 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Richard Hibbard, 3. John Afoa; 4. Tom Savage, 5. Mariano Galarza; 6. Ross Moriarty, 7. Matt Kvesic, 8. Ben Morgan

Bench: 16. Darren Dawidiuk, 17. Paddy McAllister, 18. Paul Doran-Jones, 19. Joe Latta, 20. Jacob Rowan, 21. Willi Heinz, 22. James Hook, 23. Gareth Evans

 

Tigers: 15 Mathew Tait 14 Telusa Veainu 13 Peter Betham 12 Manusamoa Tuilagi 11 JP Pietersen 10 Freddie Burns 9 Sam Harrison 1 Marcos Ayerza 2 Tom Youngs (capt) 3 Greg Bateman 4 Ed Slater 5 Dom Barrow 6 Luke Hamilton 7 Brendon O'Connor 8 Lachlan McCaffrey

Bench: 16 George McGuigan 17 Ellis Genge 18 Dan Cole 19 Graham Kitchener 20 Will Evans 21 Ben Youngs 22 Matt Smith 23 Adam Thompstone