Worcester Warriors are next up for Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm in the Aviva Premiership (Saturday 3pm).

A hard-fought local derby is on the cards and the Cherry and Whites make five changes to their starting line-up including the return of Greig Laidlaw at scrum-half.

It will be the second time that the two teams will have met in the Aviva Premiership this season, following the thrilling 23-23 draw at Sixways in Round Two.

Vital league points are on the line in addition to local bragging rights, and meetings between these two teams always seem to go to the wire.

Gloucester make five changes to the starting line-up after the desperately disappointing late 12-13 loss to the Northampton Saints.

In addition to the return of Laidlaw, with Willi Heinz having to observe the return to play protocols, Charlie Sharples recovers from injury and returns on the right wing, while Matt Scott is back alongside Billy Twelvetrees in the midfield.

Gloucester retain the same front five that started against Saints, but bring back Ross Moriarty and Jacob Rowan in the back row for Lewis Ludlow and Matt Kvesic respectively.

Amongst the replacements, Mariano Galarza is denied an opportunity to face his former club as he is ruled out with flu. And there's a possibility of a first Aviva Premiership appearance for Ben Vellacott as Callum Braley has picked up a knock in training.

Head Coach Laurie Fisher was on media duties this week and is expecting a tough game from one of Gloucester's local rivals but stressed that Gloucester have prepared well this week.

"We've come out and trained brilliantly this week, both unit sessions and team sessions. Really good energy, really combative, good accuracy. I think we're in a good place moving forward.

"They're a physical side. They're powerful with a couple of big ball carriers, a huge pack, a quality scrum. We've had to do our work in training this week and roll our sleeves up so that we can meet that challenge.

"They have quality in what they do. They've scored some wonderful tries this season. They can play some quality rugby and will take huge confidence from their performance last weekend. I think they're a challenging team.

"It's hard to blow anyone away in this competition. They're in a lot of games for a long period of time. They're probably had a couple of disappointing performances, but they're a really tough opposition.”

Gloucester Rugby: 15. James Hook; 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Matt Scott, 12. Billy Twelvetrees, 11. Jonny May; 10. Billy Burns, 9. Greig Laidlaw (capt); 1. Josh Hohneck, 2. Richard Hibbard, 3. Salesi Ma'afu; 4. Tom Savage, 5. Jeremy Thrush; 6. Ross Moriarty, 7. Jacob Rowan, 8. Ben Morgan

Replacements: 16. Motu Matu'u, 17. Paddy McAllister, 18. John Afoa, 19. Joe Latta, 20. Lewis Ludlow, 21. Ben Vellacott, 22. Andy Symons, 23. Henry Purdy

Unavailable for selection: Darren Dawidiuk, Mariano Galarza, Callum Braley, Willi Heinz, Mark Atkinson, Ollie Thorley