Gloucester Rugby Academy product, Harry Taylor, will captain the Cherry & Whites for the first time tomorrow afternoon.

Taylor is proud to be leading the side out.

“It’s a really proud moment for me, I wasn’t expecting it early on, but I can’t wait for it.

“Playing out here is always good enough but being able to captain and lead the boys out is going to be amazing.”

The back-row is looking forward to taking the field for the first time in 2023/24, the Club’s 150th anniversary season.

“I’m incredible excited, it’s been a long pre-season, but I think everybody can’t wait to get out there on Saturday and to be able to play at home first up is amazing.

Taylor started both of Gloucester’s opening league matches last season before injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season. The 22-year-old is looking forward to stepping foot back on the pitch.

“I’ve not played myself for a long time after getting injured, so that combined with an extra-long pre-season has really made myself extra hungry, but all the boys are up for it.”

The stand-in skipper is feeling positive ahead of the new season, after a good pre-season campaign.

“We’ve all worked incredibly hard in pre-season, but we’ve kept fresh, had some time off so we’re all in a good spot and ready to rip in.

“We had a good hit out against the Dragons, a really meaningful session and got everything we wanted out of it so that was really good too.”

Taylor praised Club Captain, Lewis Ludlow, for his help preparing him to lead the side tomorrow.

“Luds has been brilliant this week, helping me in the training sessions and with the group but to be fair he’s always been good.”

With the addition of the Championship clubs to the Cup this season, it’s the first time Gloucester have played Nottingham in the professional era.

Taylor says it adds an extra element to look forward to.

“We don’t know a huge amount about them which is always a good challenge, but we’re taking them as seriously as we can. We’re going to go out there, give it our all and stick to our game plan.”

Finally, the captain is looking forward to being back in front of the home fans.

“Kingsholm is a really special place and to be able to start our campaign for this season in front of the home fans, hopefully we can show them what we’ve got.”

Harry Taylor proud to captain team in season opener

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