Gloucester expect tough cup final against Newcastle

GLOUCESTER head coach Bryan Redpath insists his team are paying no attention to their favourites tag and will not rest on their laurels in today's LV= Cup final which pitches the ex-Scotland captain against former international team-mate Alan Tait's Newcastle.

The Cherry and Whites are arguably the country's in-form side and are in the midst of a ten-game winning streak, including last weekend's 45-17 semi-final thrashing of the Newport Gwent Dragons.

Gloucester head to Franklin's Gardens this afternoon looking to end their Anglo-Welsh Cup hoodoo after falling at the final hurdle for the past two years. Having lost to the Cardiff Blues and then Northampton, they now face a Newcastle side that languishes second-bottom in the Aviva Premiership.

Despite the Falcons' lowly standing and the fact Gloucester have looked strong even without their international contingent, coach Redpath insists his side will be taking nothing for granted.

"Form going into a cup final really doesn't mean a huge amount but we have to take confidence from the past ten weeks," he said. "People don't go into finals with form and reputations. Anyone can win on the day.

"Look at Birmingham and Arsenal. You can never get arrogant or overly confident, you have to be realistic and honest."

Asked about being in the role of favourites, he added: "We haven't even talked about it. It's another game. We just need to do our jobs, perform our roles. If we focus too much on the opposition then we'll not play our game. If we do that then the results take care of themselves. It'll be a tough game. Alan Tait will be getting them fired up after their past three wins. They will be happy after those and they've shown a lot of character. They've nothing to lose."

Gloucester have made two changes to the starting line-up that defeated the Dragons last week, with Henry Trinder dropping to the bench and a fractured forearm ruling out club stalwart Peter Buxton.

Tim Molenaar and Akapusi Qera come into replace the pair, while counterparts Newcastle have plumped for three changes to the side that snatched a 21-20 victory over Harlequins.

Luke Fielden, Tane Tu'ipulotu and Kieran Brookes all come into the Falcons side, who will be looking to draw attention away from their poor Premiership form.

Despite their league form Newcastle travel to Northampton with the prospect of cup glory and a place in next season's Heineken Cup in their sights, which head coach Tait admits has the players chomping at the bit.

"It's not very hard to get the players up for a game like this, and they are all buzzing for it," he said.

"We've knocked out the top seeds away from home last weekend, we're in the final now and we are growing as a group.We have put in a lot of hard work over the whole season, and I just hope that we can get something out of it."

In the Super 15 yesterday, Canterbury Crusaders ran in five second-half tries to storm to a 44-13 victory over the Otago Highlanders in Dunedin. Kieran Read, Kahn Fotuali'i, Wyatt Crockett and Israel Dagg (2) touched down for Crusaders.