AFTER missing out on Gloucester's two recent European fixtures, Jonny May is back on the left wing for Friday evening's Aviva Premiership fixture at Northampton, while Mariano Galarza is named in the matchday squad for the first time this season.

The England international features in a backs division that has three new faces from the unit that started at La Rochelle a week ago. Rob Cook comes in at full-back and Willi Heinz rotates with Greig Laidlaw at scrum-half.

The pack, however, is exactly the same as the one that started the game at Stade Marcel DeFlandre. In the replacements, hooker Darren Dawidiuk is set for his first Premiership action of the season having overcome a calf injury and Mariano Galarza returns from suspension.

Gloucester's trip to Franklin's Gardens sees them return to the scene of their very first competitive game under David Humphreys and Laurie Fisher last season, but the Director of Rugby told the local media this week that a lot has changed since then.

"You can easily try and use that as a marker. But I've no doubt that as a team, whether from a coaching or playing perspective, we're very different to where we were 12 months ago.

"It's hard to make any comparison in terms of where we are now to where we were then. We've put in a huge amount of hard work and we're a much better team.

"That hasn't always been reflected in our performances, we're still searching for the consistency that we need but we're happy with where we are and looking forward to the challenge of going to Northampton, a tough place to play but a great place to play.”

Gloucester Rugby: 15 Rob Cook; 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Bill Meakes, 12 James Hook, 11 Jonny May; 10 Billy Twelvetrees (capt), 9 Willi Heinz; 1 Paddy McAllister, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 John Afoa; 4 Tom Savage, 5 Jeremy Thrush; 6 Ross Moriarty, 7 Matt Kvesic, 8 Ben Morgan

Replacements: 17 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Mariano Galarza, 20 Sione Kalamafoni, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Henry Purdy, 23 Jacob Rowan