England duo Mike Tindall and Iain Balshaw return for Gloucester for their meeting with Saracens tomorrow.

Balshaw comes in on the wing in place of Chris Paterson who missed three shots at goal in last weekend’s Heineken Cup loss to Munster. Tindall, who came on as a replacement in the defeat, starts in place of Anthony Allen

Head coach Dean Ryan has made five changes - two forced by injury - to his side, including Akapusi Qera’s return on the openside flank in place of Andy Hazell, while Alasdair Strokosch replaces Peter Buxton at No.6.

OllyMorgan has a hamstring strain and is replaced by Willie Walker at full-back..

Ryan said: “We did not have four or five weeks of playing well going into the Munster game, but given the disruption, we played really well. The key now is to take that forward.

“The side we want to be was there against Munster in a lot of ways but we need to replicate that in the rest of our games to be competitive towards the end of the Premiership season.

“We have to learn from last weekend and learn from last year’s experiences. If we can do both those things, and maximise our opportunities, we’ve got a chance of being really competitive in the knockout stages of the competition.

“I believe very strongly we are getting better and maturing. Nobody wanted to experience last weekend but we have to get better from it and understand and appreciate the lessons, take that forward into tomorrow and be competitive.

“Saracens are in some great form - their victory over the Ospreys was tremendous - and they have just come off the back of scoring 10 tries against Leeds. They will be confident but it is our job to go out and produce a performance.”

Gloucester’s front row of Nick Wood, Andy Titterrell and Carlos Nieto will pack down for the third successive match. It will be Wood’s 11th successive start in all competitions and it will be Titterrell’s fifth in a row.

Gloucester: Willie Walker; Iain Balshaw, James Simpson-Daniel, Mike Tindall, Lesley Vainikolo; Ryan Lamb, Rory Lawson; Nick Wood, Andy Titterrell, Carlos Nieto, Marco Bortolami (capt), Alex Brown, Alasdair Strokosch, Akapusi Qera, Luke Narraway.
Replacements: Olivier Azam, Jack Forster, Gareth Delve, Will James, Gareth Cooper, Chris Paterson, Jack Adams.