Handre Pollard named in Leicester Tigers starting XV for Premiership Rugby Cup final against Gloucester

Two-time World Cup winner Handre Pollard will start for Leicester Tigers in Friday’s Premiership Rugby Cup final against Gloucester, a match which will be live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

The fly-half was instrumental as South Africa clinched a second successive World Cup in Paris last year and has been in fine form for his club this season.

Leicester beat Ealing Trailfinders 29-21 in the semi-finals to set up a showdown with their Gallagher Premiership Rugby rivals Gloucester, who edged out Exeter Chiefs in the last four.

Pollard has featured 12 times this season for the Tigers, who remain in the hunt for a treble.

Leicester sit sixth in the Gallagher Premiership table, 11 points behind leaders Northampton Saints, and have a last-16 tie against Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup to look forward to at the start of April.

But Dan McKellar’s side won’t be looking past the impending battle with the Cherry and Whites at Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium.

Both teams will be without a host of their international stars who are on Six Nations duty, with Pollard’s inclusion one of four Leicester changes.

Lock Sam Carter, prop Joe Heyes and winger Josh Bassett come into the starting XV, with Phil Cokanasiga, Dan Richardson, Jamie Shillcock and Olly Cracknell dropping to the bench.

“It's a special occasion on Friday, and then we have Europe and the Premiership, so to be in the position to win all three is exciting,” McKellar told BBC Sport.

McKellar’s opposite number, George Skivington, has made just one change to his side that beat Exeter 17-14.

After spending five months on the sidelines with a knee injury, Val Rapava-Ruskin returns to the starting XV in place of Jamal Ford-Robinson, who has been named on the bench.

Gloucester starting XV: Evans; Hearle, Llewellyn, Atkinson, Thorley; Barton, Englefield; Rapava-Ruskin, McGuigan, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Jordan, Ackermann, Ludlow, Mercer.

Replacements: Blake, Elrington, Ford-Robinson, Clark, Clement, Chapman, Hillman-Cooper, Hathaway.

Leicester Tigers starting XV: Brown; Bassett, Scott, Kelly, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Whiteley; Van Wyk, Theobald-Thomas, Heyes, Wells, Carter, Liebenberg, Rogerson, Hatherall.

Replacements: Vanes, Whitcombe, Richardson, Cracknell, Ilione, Edwards, Shillcock, Cokanasiga.

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.