Gloucester Rugby host Union Bordeaux-Begles at Kingsholm on Friday night in Round One of the 2026/27 Investec Champions Cup

Gloucester Rugby are set to be bolstered by the return of Arthur Clark, Joe Joyce and Val Rapava-Ruskin for the visit of back-to-back European champions Bordeaux-Bègles on Friday.

The Cherry and Whites face the ultimate test of their game on Friday, and with it being a home game, head coach George Skivington has been rallying his troops to defend their fortress when the French invade.

Heavily hinting he will put out his strongest side against Bordeaux, Skivington said: “Like we've said across the Prem, we want our home games to be really important.

“If we're playing at Kingsholm, we want to make sure that as a minimum everybody who turns up at Kingsholm knows how much it means for us to play there.

“We want to try and win as many games at Kingsholm as we can. So from that point of view, European or not, Kingsholm's really important to us. Friday night is really important to us, albeit the size of the challenge is big.

“We are at Kingsholm, we talk a lot about Kingsholm, our supporters, what it means to play for the club, and that's something we've gone really hard on this year. I think whenever at Kingsholm, we will be trying to win those games.

England international second row Clark missed the 38-31 defeat away at Leicester Tigers on Friday, having suffered from back spasms during the week, while loosehead prop Rapava-Ruskin didn’t travel to Welford Road, having taken a blow to his shoulder in the 48-0 win against Harlequins.

While they are set to return to add depth in the pack, full back Ben Redshaw is likely to miss the game after taking a blow to his shoulder in the defeat to Leicester. The good news is George Barton excelled when he came off the bench.

Skivington said: “The last couple of weeks we haven't got any major issues, but we've had a few bumps and bruises.

“You are ultimately getting into the games now, and you do pick up a few, like Arthur Clark pulling out at the last minute; Val took a bang the week before, but both of those guys are back in training this week.

“Benny Redshaw, he's taken a bang; it's nothing major. But we've got bumps and bruises, but it's all manageable stuff. We've just got to, like with Val last week, make smart decisions around the guys you push and the guys you don't.”

Skivington revealed fly-half Charlie Atkinson was carrying a knock going into the game against Leicester, which is why the kicking duties were handed to Caolan Englefield, but he is in better physical condition this week.

Providing an update on summer signing Joe Joyce, who hasn’t played in the league yet this season, Skivington said: “Joe's actually training this week. Joe has had a few niggles. He had an issue after the Bristol Prem Cup game, and he had a little issue a week or two ago. “So Joe's sort of been dipping in and out of the program, so he hasn't really been available for selection for the opening three rounds, either having a bang or having not trained as much as the others.”

While Skivington has got injuries to contend with, he confirmed that regular first team players last season, Seb Blake, Josiah Edwards-Giraud, and Irish international Ross Byrne are all fit but just unable to get into the squad at the moment.