Gloucester face 'massive' challenge from Edinburgh

George Skivington's Gloucester were the only team to win all four of their Challenge Cup pool stage matches last season

Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington is expecting a "really intense" encounter when the Premiership side start their Challenge Cup campaign at home to Edinburgh on Friday.

Zach Mercer's 74th-minute try gave Gloucester a 21-20 away win when the familiar rivals met in the pool stage last season, maintaining a perfect European record they extended until their defeat by Sharks in the final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"We've got a serious outfit coming here on Friday night," said Skivington, recalling his team's 33-26 defeat in Edinburgh in pre-season while speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"Edinburgh are a massive challenge and basically the Scottish team. I'm really excited by it.

"We had a great game with them in pre-season - it was a real helter-skelter, entertaining match.

"They play some good rugby. Both games were very competitive - very, very intense, fast games.

"I'm sure they've got some tricks up their sleeves and we've got some ideas of how we can expose them.

"There are a lot of proud Scotsmen in there and they'll no doubt want a bit of revenge for last season's game."

Louis Rees-Zammit scored in Gloucester's 21-20 win over Edinburgh on 13 January in his last game before leaving to become an NFL player

Gloucester enter the game fifth in the Premiership after ending Northampton Saints' 17-match winning home run with a 25-17 victory at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.

Skivington said number eight Mercer and wing Ollie Thorley are on crutches and will have scans on knee injuries sustained during that win, but he has been impressed by the performances of his fringe players and expects to rotate his team in the Challenge Cup.

"They haven't lost there in over a year, so to hold them out in the second half in the way that we did was great," he said, having overseen redemption for a 90-0 defeat at Northampton in May.

"We saw the best on both sides of the ball; we attacked really well in the first half and got really tested defensively in the second half. The character in collisions and the workrate was outstanding.

"We'd like a bit of balance - not one half attack, one half defend - but the good thing is we've shown our mettle and how much it means. You don't fight that hard unless you've got a common cause and a really good group who are tight-knit.

"It gives us a good benchmark. We knew Saints was the ultimate test, to see if we could go there and match their game that was so impressive last season.

"It wasn't the complete performance that we were shooting for, but there were lots of good signs there."

Sean Everitt's Edinburgh beat Bayonne at Murrayfield last season to earn a quarter-final tie against eventual champions Sharks in Durban, losing 36-30

Edinburgh, who are eighth in the United Rugby Championship after winning three and losing four of their seven games, have the leading points scorer in this season's competition in Ross Thompson and the joint-top try scorer, Ben Muncaster.

No player has made more clean breaks in this season's Championship than Scotland record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe, although coach Sean Everitt is expected to make several changes under player rest protocols.

"They're very good at set pieces and strong defensively," observed Skivington. "In attack, they can spark things out of nothing.

"We saw that in pre-season: we had a pretty good hold on the game and they just sparked a couple of tries out of nowhere.

"They've got a couple of class names and some big players who performed really well in the autumn.

"The way they found tries is what we've got to be cautious of. They've got a powerful pack and a lot of seasoned internationals and size - they're big, big men."

Gloucester visit reigning French second-tier champions Vannes on 14 December before hosting Scarlets on 10 January and completing their initial Challenge Cup fixtures at Bayonne nine days later.

"We have some great memories of last year and there is a beauty in playing teams you don't know that well," said Skivington.

"We'll go hard on Friday and know, after these two weeks, where we stand in Europe.

"It's very, very difficult in these European competitions if you don't get points out of your first two games."