The west countrymen finished third in the league last season and were narrowly beaten by Saracens in the semi-final. This season they have got off to a fairly decent start losing a very close encounter with Northampton at Franklin's Gardens, followed by a comprehensive win at home against Worcester last week. Like a number of sides Gloucester have lost several first choice players to the Rugby World Cup yet are still managing to put out a pretty good team.

The same fixture last season saw Harlequins run riot, orchestrated by the superb Clegg and Care. A similar result is not at all likely this time, although let's not forget that Gloucester had been on a run of around 10 unbeaten games prior to that drubbing. On paper, at least, the teams look evenly matched, and of the 46 players in the match day squads there are 42 English qualified players, with 14 from each team having come through the clubs' Academy systems.

There is very little to split the outside backs in terms of quality, and the matchups look potentially mouth-watering. Mike Brown against Ollie Morgan – two of the finest fullbacks in the country and neither has any real weakness. Thankfully for Quins fans Brown always seems to do rather well when Morgan is on the pitch. Another interesting battle will pitch two England rejects against each other, Sharples and Monye; rejects sounds a little unkind as both must have been very close to making the final squad. Sharples is one player who has done very well against Harlequins in recent times and Ugo will need to continue his very good early-season form in order to contain him. Vainikolo is playing out of position at inside centre but has managed to look fairly comfortable so far. JTH has been in fine fettle these past two weeks and has got through an awful lot of graft, plus he has been varying his play with a good passing game which seemed to come to the fore in the latter part of last season. George Lowe and Henry Trinder will both be hoping to make their international debuts within the next couple of years and neither will give an inch tomorrow. Both players are very exciting with ball in hand and they both know their way to the try line.

Again it would appear that Quins have an advantage at halfback, although Freddie Burns at 10 is a very skilful player for Gloucester. However, there's no reason not to expect Evans and Dickson to provide Quins with more incision than their opponents.

Harlequins' depth is already being tested in the forwards, and the loss of Joe Marler for three weeks is a big blow, although the silly Billy only has himself to blame. Mark Lambert comes into the side at loosehead prop and while he is a fine player in the loose question marks remain about his scrummaging. Hopefully Rupert Harden won't provide too much of a stern test as he is fairly inexperienced at this level. He has, however, played a lot in the lower leagues and Quins fans know as well as anyone that this can really benefit a player's progress. Alex Brown and Tom Savage start in the second row for Gloucester – the former with over 200 appearances to his name, while the latter is making his first forays at this level. By all accounts both are in some good form and Brown can dominate a lineout if there is any weakness with the opposition.

Harlequins' back row was outstanding last week, particularly so bearing in mind that four senior players are missing. Against Northampton Chris York probably had his best game for Harlequins yet, Chris Robshaw was his usual brilliant self, whilst Luke Wallace arguably pipped them both with a quite extraordinary display considering it was his second ever premiership game and his first start. One thing they can be assured of in particular is a bruising encounter against the gnarly Peter Buxton and Brett Deacon, and the all action Matt Cox. The back row battle will probably be crucial and while Robshaw is consistently top drawer the two youngsters in our back row will need to be at least as good as they were last week.

A fascinating game is in prospect and both teams will be looking to play with a high tempo on what will hopefully be a dry day. Once more I expect home advantage to be a big factor in Quins continuing their impressive form, but this should be a closer match than last week. Quins by less than seven.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon