Gloucester have opted to rest Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams for Saturday’s Challenge Cup Round of 16 clash against Montpellier, with Caolan Englefield handed the starting berth for the trip to France.
Williams, who played every minute of Wales’ 2024 Six Nations campaign, has been widely tipped as one of the few Welsh contenders for this summer’s British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
Head coach George Skivington has made several changes to the side that defeated Bristol in the Premiership last week. Both props are rotated, with Ciaran Knight and Kirill Gotovtsev promoted from the bench.
They are joined by sometime England hooker Jack Singleton who retains his place.
Cam Jordan returns to partner Freddie Thomas in the second row, while the back row of Jack Clement, Ruan Ackermann and captain Lewis Ludlow remains unchanged.
Montpellier
Gloucester
Josh Hathaway misses out through injury, so Jake Morris joins Christian Wade and Santi Carreras in the back three.
Gloucester have opted for a 6–2 bench split, suggesting they expect a physical encounter at the GGL Stadium.
GLOUCESTER
15. Santi Carreras
14. Christian Wade
13. Chris Harris
12. Seb Atkinson
11. Jake Morris
10. Charlie Atkinson
9. Caolan Englefield
1. Ciaran Knight
2. Jack Singleton
3. Kirill Gotovtsev
4. Cam Jordan
5. Freddie Thomas
6. Jack Clement
7. Lewis Ludlow (c)
8. Ruan Ackermann
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Seb Blake
17. Jamal Ford-Robinson
18. Afo Fasogbon
19. Freddie Clarke
20. Harry Taylor
21. Deian Gwynne
22. Charlie Chapman
23. Will Butler
