Gloucester 2025/26 preview

Published on 22 September 2025 at 18:05

Gloucester

Last season's finish: 5th

Director of rugby: George Skivington

Captain: Tomos Williams

Star player: Tomos Williams

Young player to watch: Afolabi Fasogbon

Gloucester were in the playoff hunt throughout last season, and had a chance to qualify on the final day, but ultimately failed to make the final four. There was a lot of pressure on George Skivington going into last season and he ended up leading them to what was widely considered to be a good season. They also managed to make the final of the Challenge Cup in which they lost 36-22 to the Sharks - from South Africa, not Manchester.

So, how can they go a step further this season? It will likely come from an improvement up front. At times last season, most notably in the 2nd half of their heavy defeat away to Bath, they found themselves physically overwhelmed by teams with more depth and a better power game. Losing Zach Mercer and Ruan Ackermann doesn't help. Ackermann has returned to his native South Africa whilst Mercer has joined his fellow Englishmen,Lewis Ludlam and Dave Ribbans, at Toulon. They have been replaced by Jack Mann, from Glasgow, and James Venter from the Sharks. Interestingly, Lewis Ludlow has been removed as captain in favour of Tomos Williams, which could signal that the competition for the 7 shirt is wide open this season.

Gloucester have also added to their front row. Former All-Black Nepo Laulala has joined the team and, despite his age, will immediately be a premium player at a valuable position. He will also hopefully help the development of Afolabi Fasogbon who is already on England's radar. The addition of the Kiwi, and Jack Innard at hooker, make this a very strong front row with some good depth. They'll be helped by the duo of Arthur Clark and Freddie Thomas. The pair of 23-year-olds are already strong but will develop together as they gain more experience.

The exciting part of this team is the half back combination. Tomos Williams was the best signing across the league last season and has been named captain of this team. He'll look to continue his form alongside a new partner at fly half. Ross Byrne has joined Gloucester from Leinster on a 3-year-deal. At 30-years-old he is in the perfect position to lead this side well. His understudies are 2 young, English fly-halves called Charlie Atkinson and George Barton. Atkinson recently earned his first England cap against the USA when he came off the bench in a game that they won 40-5. The pair will now be under more pressure to perform after the departure of Santiago Carreras, who played fly half when Anscombe was unavailable.

Carreras has joined Louis Rees-Zammit and Chris Harris on the list of players who have left Gloucester and moved to a West country rival. The Argentinian has signed for Bath where he will likely become a fan favourite, just as he was in Gloucester. Christian Wade has also left the club and is currently playing for Wigan Warriors in the Betfred Super League. He has also signed a deal that will see him join the Newcastle Red Bulls in December after his contract at Wigan is up. In their place, Gloucester have added Ben Redshaw from Newcastle and Ben Loader from the Stormers. Redshaw is a highly-rated prospect and will immediately compete for the starting spot at fullback. However, he'll have some serious competition from Ben Loader. Loader was a part of the London Irish team that finished 5th in the league before the club went under. He played in a back line that included: himself, Henry Arundell, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Lucio Cinti. Now, he joins one without the same star power but with plenty of potential.

Ollie Thorley is an excellent winger and Josh Hathaway is quickly developing into one of the most dangerous speedsters in the league. The latter has also been capped by Wales. Another Welsh international in the Gloucester back line is Max Llewellyn, He is part of a strong centre partnership with Seb Atkinson, who just earned his first caps for England in the summer. Gloucester are in a good place. They have experience at key positions that will help to guide a team of young talents that are already starting to blossom.

If they can avoid too many injuries to a relatively thin back line, this team is in good shape to potentially qualify for a spot in the top 4 in the 2025/26 season.

Notable additions

Nepo Laulala - Jack Mann - Ross Byrne

Notable exits

Santiago Carreras - Gareth Anscombe - Chris Harris - Zach Mercer - Ruan Ackermann

Squad

(Includes some senior academy players)

Hooker

Seb Blake - Kealan Freeman-Price - Jack Innard - George Knowles - Jack Singleton

Prop

George Alexander - Jonny Benz-Salomon - Jamal Ford-Robinson - Afolabi Fasogbon - kiril Gotovtsev - Ciaran Knight - Nepo Laulala - Archie MacArthur - Val Rapava-Ruskin

Lock

Matias Alemanno - Jono Balding - Hugh Bokenham Arthur Clark - Danny Eite - Cameron Jordan - Freddie Thomas

Back row

Olly Allport - Jack Bartlett - Josh Basham - Jack Clement - Caio James- Deian Gwynne - Lewis Ludlow - Jack Mann - Harry Taylor - Will Trenholm - James Venter

Scrum half

Mike Austin - Caolan Englefield - Tomos Williams

Fly half

Charlie Atkinson - George Barton - Ross Byrne

Centre

Seb Atkinson - Will Butler - Will Joseph - Max Knight - Will Knight - Max Llewellyn - Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Wing

Josh Hathaway - Jake Morris - Rob Russell - Ollie Thorley

Fullback

Ben Loader - Ben Redshaw

Possible XV and bench

1.Val Rapava-Ruskin 2.Seb Blake 3.Nepo Laulala 4.Arthur Clark 5.Freddie Thomas

6.Jack Clement 7.James Venter 8.Jack Mann 9.Tomos Williams 10.Ross Byrne

11.Ollie Thorley 12.Seb Atkinson 13.Max Llewellyn 14.Josh Hathaway 15.Ben Loader

Bench

16.Jack Innard 17.Jamal Ford-Robinson 18.Afolabi Fasogbon 19.Matias Alemanno