“This season doesn’t define who we are” - George Skivington before Leicester Tigers clash

Head coach George Skivington said in his pre-match press conference that he uses results like this to build confidence within the group.

“There are so many things we spoke about in the last break going into the PREM Cup and there is areas of the game we wanted to really nail down on.”

“And there are bits I wanted to get hold of again and those couple of months gave us the opportunity to do that, so I think we got some of that on the pitch at the weekend and there are other things we didn’t get.

"I wouldn’t say it was a pretty performance, a lot of combinations that haven’t played together, a lot of timings that weren’t quite right, so the good thing is we managed to win the game and the momentum was well against us in that middle part of the game, but we have all come into today very aware that there are a lot of things that need to be done.

"Leicester are a big challenge this week and are in really good form, challenging for the playoffs, so we’re aware the opposition is a step up from where we were last week and we have got to make our games better and better, that’s the big thing for us with the seven games we have left we have to put good rugby on to the pitch.”

A fixture between Gloucester Rugby and Leicester Tigers means more to both clubs now that it has the name of Ed Slater added to it as well as the bonus of silverware.

“I think there is definitely lads across both groups that have known Ed personally, the Leicester management, the Gloucester management and senior players from both teams.

"The other guys coming through that may not have known Ed so well, they understand the gravity of Ed’s situation and how inspirational he is,” said Skivington.

“And now there is something special on the line whenever Leicester and Gloucester play each other, a trophy with Ed’s name on it and there is a bigger cause that everyone is fighting for and with the older players doing the bike ride and that, I think it adds more weight to the match. It has come from something horrendous really, but it does add to that extra specialness to the game.”

This weekend, the Cherry and Whites will play their home game at Villa Park, the home of Premier League side Aston Villa, becoming only the third rugby union fixture to be held at the stadium, a decade after the previous two. “

That’s the big goal at the end of the day [boosting rugby union in the West Midlands], we want to have a good day out, with us having that as part of our patch, we want to grow rugby around there, there is a lot of people around there and a lot of schools already tapped into and our community team has done a lot of work there and hopefully it can be the start of many years playing there."

“The more we can promote the game there, there will be a lot of people who don’t have the opportunity or the awareness of rugby so hopefully, this will be a step in the right direction.”

Wales and Lions star Tomos Williams came off early last week, with the Gloucester captain caught by friendly fire as teammate Jack Innard put his weight through the scrum-half’s shoulder. However, aside from some late fitness testing this week, the squad is expected to be fully fit for Villa Park.