Coaches expect 'helter-skelter' West Country derby

Bristol and Gloucester's directors of rugby are expecting an exciting West Country derby, with both teams planning to put on an attacking display to entertain fans.

The rivals meet in the Premiership on Friday (19:45 BST) with the Bears looking to make it two wins out of two, and the Cherry and Whites hoping to get their first victory of the season.

Gloucester boss George Skivington is aiming to implement a more expansive style this term and they picked up a try bonus-point in a high-scoring home defeat by Saracens last Saturday.

"It should be pretty exciting, helter-skelter stuff on Friday night," he said.

"If both teams can do what they want to do then there’s likely to be a lot of tries scored and highly entertaining rugby which is what we want, but we want to win. It should make for a good game."

Skivington said while his side were trying to change their style, running rugby had long been Bristol's way of playing.

"They’ve had a few changes but their nucleus is very similar and their DNA is to play, they don’t kick the ball a lot," he said.

"They’re very well organised. Although they can look like they’re playing in chaos, they clearly know where they are supposed to be.

"They’ve been doing a lot of the stuff that we’ve been challenging ourselves to do."

Gloucester are assessing a knee injury to prop Val Rapava-Ruskin and are without playmaker Santiago Carreras who remains on international duty with Argentina, but have welcomed back Fijian back-rower Albert Tuisue this week.

The Cherry and Whites faithful will be hoping a change in style will bring a big improvement on last season's disappointing ninth-place finish.

"Every game in the Premiership is vital. It gets away from you very quickly and then you’re chasing your tail," added Skivington.

Bears director of rugby Pat Lam enjoyed a better start to the campaign with last week's bonus point away win at Newcastle.

He said coping with expectation was a challenge and praised his opposite number for what he is trying to do at Gloucester.

"Most people would expect us to win but I’ve got a lot of admiration for George (Skivington) and what he’s doing and being brave that they want to change the way they are playing," he said.

"It's potentially going to be a great game because you’ve got two teams who want to play rugby.

"We’re playing a team that has a lot of world-class players. We haven’t lost to Gloucester at home in my time here so we know what we need to do."