CONFIDENT Gloucester must capitalise on a European launch pad against Biarritz tomorrow night.
Cherry and Whites boss Nigel Davies wants his side to tee up a grandstand finish to the season, by seeing off Basque country giants Biarritz at Kingsholm tomorrow (kick-off 8pm).
Rugby director Davies has made three changes to his backline in a bid to offset the demands of two top-level contests in six days.
Martyn Thomas replaces Rob Cook at full-back for this keenly-anticipated Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final.
Player/backs coach Mike Tindall shifts in for Billy Twelvetrees in the centre and Dave Lewis starts ahead of Dan Robson at scrum-half.
Nick Wood starts at loosehead prop, trading places with Dan Murphy, while Will James slots into the second row in place of Jim Hamilton, out with a foot injury.
Davies has challenged his side to harness their impressive 17-15 victory over Premiership champions Harlequins – and set up a two-pronged silverware chase, in both league and cup action.
He explained: "In knockout rugby you only have one opportunity, and you have to get it right, your focus has to be completely right.
"It's slightly different because we're pitched against opposition we don't know that well that will present a different challenge to us.
"They are very, very capable.
"But we're confident at the moment, coming off a good result and performance, and we want to use that as a bit of a springboard for the rest of the season.
"This competition is huge for us, and we're two games away from a final.
"It's going to be very difficult to achieve that, but we've got an opportunity."
GLOUCESTER: M Thomas, C Sharples, H Trinder, M Tindall (capt), J May, F Burns, D Lewis, N Wood, K Britton, S Knight, L Lokotui, W James, T Savage, A Qera, S Kalamafoni. Replacements: H Edmonds, D Murphy, D Chistolini, A Hazell, G Evans, D Robson, B Twelvetrees, S Monahan.
BIARRITZ: M Bosch, T Ngwenya, B Baby, D Traille, T Thomas, J-P Barraque, D Yachvili, E van Staden, A Heguy, F Gomez Kodela, E Lund, M Marie, T Molcard, R Lakafia, I Harinordoquy (capt). Replacements: B August, T Synaeghel, B Broster, P Taele, S Burotu, Y Lesgourgues, C Gimenez, P Couet-Lannes.
