BILLY Twelvetrees returns to the Gloucester Rugby starting line up having missed out on the 40-33 Aviva Premiership win over Newcastle last weekend in one of five changes to the starting line up.

Also returning to the starting XV are Twelvetrees' fellow England Six Nations representatives, Jonny May and Ben Morgan.

Other changes see Will James replacing James Hudson who picked up a knock last weekend, while Jimmy Cowan comes in for Dan Robson who tweaked a hamstring in the same game.

Of note amongst the replacements is the return of Tongan international second row Lua Lokotui who has been sidelined with a pectoral injury since November.

The Chiefs currently sit just two points ahead of Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership ship table, and Director of Rugby Nigel Davies knows that will motivate both sides.

"Exeter have a great reputation, they play a good brand of rugby and they're well respected. But they're only two points ahead of us, that's all. And that represents a big opportunity for us at the weekend.

"They came to Kingsholm earlier in the season and put in a good performance to be fair to them. But Saturday is all about making sure that we get ourselves right.

"They'll be looking for a big performance. They've played through the past few weeks whereas we were off. They possibly relaxed a bit after winning the LV= Cup, but Leicester's never an easy place to go to.

"They said after the game that it had been a bit of a wake up call for them so I'm sure we'll see a different team at the weekend.”

Gloucester Rugby: Rob Cook; Charlie Sharples, Mike Tindall, Billy Twelvetrees (capt), Jonny May; Ryan Mills, Jimmy Cowan; Nick Wood, Darren Dawidiuk, Shaun Knight; Elliott Stooke, Will James; Sione Kalamafoni, Matt Kvesic, Ben Morgan.

Replacements: Koree Britton, Yann Thomas, Sila Puafisi, Lua Lokotui, Gareth Evans, Tavis Knoyle, Freddie Burns, Henry Trinder.