Gloucester Director of Rugby Nigel Davies has made two changes to his starting line up to face Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership at Kingsholm on Friday.

Davies has made one change to his pack, and one to his back line. Dan Murphy replaces Nick Wood at loose head prop, while Henry Trinder partners Mike Tindall in the Gloucester midfield in place of Tim Molenaar.

It's round 16 in the Aviva Premiership, and Gloucester currently find themselves in fifth position, four points behind London Wasps who occupy the final play off spot.

Gloucester's last game was away at Wasps, of course, a hard fought 29-33 defeat last Sunday.

It means the Cherry and Whites have faced a short turnaround this week and Davies confirmed that Gloucester have had to be smart with their scheduling this week.

"We have to consider where we are in the season. A lot of groundwork has been put in already.

"It's very much about keeping the energy in this group of players. They worked extremely hard last Sunday up at Wasps and were unlucky not to come away with the win.

"Over the past two weeks, I've been pleased with the performances that have been put in. We've shown a lot of character as well and we've got to show up with the same level of intensity and focus that we had in the last two games."

In terms of recent form, Gloucester Rugby tallied a try bonus point in Aviva Premiership Rugby for the first time since Boxing Day 2011 with their 29-33 defeat at London Wasps on Sunday.

Gloucester's only win in their last four Premiership games was 27-11 at Northampton on 9 February.

Worcester Warriors have slipped to four straight defeats in the Premiership, since their 13-6 victory at home to London Welsh on 21 December.

The Warriors' only away win in the competition since they visited Kingsholm in April 2009 was 6-0 at London Wasps on New Year's Day 2012.

Worcester have won just one of their last five Premiership fixtures with Gloucester: 21-15 at Sixways on 7 January 2012.

Worcester have recalled centre Josh Matavesi and number Eight Blair Cowan to make his first league start of the campaign as part of revamped back row as Head Coach Richard Hill makes a total of four changes to his starting line-up.

The other change in the pack comes at hooker as Ed Shervington is called up to partner Matt Mullan and Euan Murray, who misses the Scotland international game on Sunday due to religious reasons.

Centre Matavesi will partner Alex Grove in midfield while the fit-again Chris Pennell takes the place of Josh Drauniniu, who is ruled out of the game through injury.

"It's a very tough place to go Kingsholm, a big derby under lights, but we normally perform well in these evening games," said Hill.

"The players have been in good spirits despite the defeat to Northampton last weekend; they have come in and worked very hard and it all starts for us on Friday.

"We need a couple of wins to get us away from that bottom area of the table and we will have to work very hard on Friday to try and get the first of them.

"Gloucester will pose very similar problems to us that Northampton did," added Hill.

"They have a very effective drive and when they played against London Wasps last weekend they were very powerful.

Match : Gloucester Rugby v Worcester Warriors
Date : Friday 22nd February
Venue : Kingsholm,
Kick Off : 7.45pm
Live on: N/A
Match Officials
Referee: David Rose (107th Premiership game)
Assistant Referees: Stuart Terheege and Paul Burton
TMO: Trevor Fisher.

Teams

Gloucester

Rob Cook; Charlie Sharples, Henry Trinder, Mike Tindall (capt), Jonny May; Ryan Mills, Dan Robson; Dan Murphy, Darren Dawidiuk, Rupert Harden; Lua Lokotui, Will James; Tom Savage, Akapusi Qera, Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements:Huia Edmonds, Nick Wood, Dario Chistolini, Peter Buxton, Andy Hazell, Dave Lewis, Tim Molenaar, Martyn Thomas

Warriors

15 Errie Claassens, 14 Chris Pennell, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 David Lemi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Blair Cowan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Sam Betty, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 James Percival (c), 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ed Shervington ,1 Matt Mullan

Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 John Andress, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Jake Abbott, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Danny Gray, 23 Jon Clarke