Hamilton: Missing for Gloucester

The West Country club have won three of their last four clashes with Northampton, whilst the Saints have been victorious at Kingsholm just once since 2005, a 27-14 success in September 2009.

Gloucester have lost in round one of Aviva Premiership Rugby in three of the past four seasons, including the game at Northampton last season.

Davies is deprived of the services of his skipper Jim Hamilton who rolled an ankle in training this week so fellow lock Alex Brown captains the side.

He leads a side that sees first Premiership starts for Gloucester the likes of Billy Twelvetrees, Dan Robson and Ben Morgan.

Summer signings Huia Edmonds, Sione Kalamafoni and Martyn Thomas are named amongst the replacements.

Davies knows that Northampton will be a tough first opponent although is pleased how his squad has developed during the close season.

"We're as ready as we can be. We've had a good three months at it after lots of change over the summer," he told the club's official website.

"They're a very good side. I went to watch them in Edinburgh last week and they played very well. We're a side who have been together for three months, they're a side that's been together for three years.

"They've had a lot of stability and have evolved their game. They'll provide the sternest of challenges but that's good. We know they're coming and we've prepared for that."

Director of rugby Jim Mallinder knows Kingsholm is a difficult place to secure the points, stating the Saints will need to be at their best.

"Training this summer has been good and we've had some promising pre-season performances, but none of that will count if we don't get a positive result," commented Mallinder.

"Gloucester is always a tough place to visit, and they have played well over the past few weeks. We know that we need to play a lot better, increase our intensity and accuracy and defend well right from the first whistle.

"It's going to be interesting to see how both teams go in the game - Gloucester have new coaches and new ideas, while we've brought in a few players and made a couple of changes."

Gloucester: 15 Jonny May, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Ben Morgan 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Alex Brown (c), 4 Tom Savage, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood. Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 Huia Edmonds, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Will James, 20 Sione Kalamafoni, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Henry Trinder, 23 Martyn Thomas.

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickinson, 8 GJ Van Zelze, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 1 Soane Tonga'UihaReplacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Rhys Oakley, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Luther Burrell.