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Billy Burns will captain Ulster against his former club as he returns to Kingsholm for the first time since leaving Gloucester in 2018.

The fly-half is the only change in Ulster's backline as the province seek to keep their Heineken Champions Cup hopes alive following their loss last weekend.

Kyle Moyle, Ciaran Knight and Lewis Ludlow are the only Gloucester players to retain their place from their defeat by Lyon as George Skivington makes 12 changes.

Burns scored 304 points in 101 appearances for the Cherry and Whites before making the switch to Ulster with ambitions of becoming an Ireland international, something the fly-half achieved during the recent autumn Tests.

It is his first appearance for the province since the beginning of November, and his return sees Ian Madigan drop to the bench.

Jacob Stockdale will again play on the left wing with Michael Lowry and Matt Faddes retained in the same back three.

Sam Carter has not recovered from a head injury sustained in last week's loss to Toulouse, meaning David O'Connor joins brother Alan in the second row.

Jordi Murphy's return to the back row goes some way to offsetting the sizeable loss of Marcell Coetzee, who like Carter was not cleared to play following his head injury against Toulouse.

With just four pool stage matches in this season's re-formatted competition, neither side can realistically afford another defeat if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals.

After his side's emphatic loss to Lyon, head coach Skivington rings the changes handing a first start of the season to scrum-half Charlie Chapman.

Welsh international Louis Rees-Zammit returns to club duty on the left wing to form a back three with Charlie Sharples and Moyle.

Ludlow again captains the side at open-side flanker while Val Rapava-Ruskin and Jack Singleton join Knight in the front row of what is a vastly different pack.

Academy graduates Toby Venner and George Barton are among the replacements as the hosts seek to ignite their European campaign.

Gloucester: Moyle; Sharples, Harris, Atkinson, Rees-Zammit; Evans, Chapman; Rapava-Ruskin, Singleton, Knight, Slater, Alemanno; Reid, Ludlow (capt), Ackermann.

Replacements: Walker, Seville, Ford-Robinson, Craig, Nagle-Taylor, Venner, Barton, Trinder.

Ulster: Lowry; Faddes, Hume, McCloskey, Stockdale; Burns (capt), Cooney; O'Sullivan, Herring, Moore, A O'Connor, D O'Connor; Reidy, Murphy, Timoney.

Replacements: Andrew, McCall, O'Toole, Rea, Jones, Mathewson, Madiagn, McIlroy.