THE Volcano may be laying dormant for a few weeks but Mike Ruddock knows that if his Worcester War-riors don't perform then they will be facing a natural disaster of their very own at Kingsholm tonight (6pm).

Gloucester's new rugby league convert Lesley Vai-nikolo, who scored five tries on his union debut at Leeds Carnegie, misses out this evening after being stretchered off at Saracens last Sunday with a neck injury.

But even though the new union superstar is absent, Warriors director of rugby Ruddock knows that the Cherry and Whites pose a threat all over the park.

"Gloucester have impressed me, I have been pouring over tapes of them the last couple of weeks and I have been impressed," the former Wales Grand Slam winning coach said.

"Their game has come on hugely, they have always been strong in the forwards but now they play with a lot of width and tempo.

"They finish very well; it's hard to see too many weaknesses in their game at the moment.

"It should be a fantastic occasion. Kingsholm is a great place to go - a tough place to go too - but if we are serious about becoming a real team we have to go down there, present ourselves and put in a great performance.

"If we're not at the top of our game, then we've got no chance. But we'll give it a real go."

Gloucester coach Dean Ryan said: "Mike Ruddock has given Worcester a bit more licence to play and they are certainly a greater threat."

There will be plenty of feeling in this clash with Warriors having four former Cherry and Whites swelling ranks in Thinus Delport, Marcel Garvey, Tony Windo and Chris For-tey, while Gloucester have former Warriors youngster Luke Narraway.

The Warriors make three changes to the side that drew 24-24 with London Wasps last weekend with centre Dominic Feau'nati rewarded for his last-gasp try with a place in the starting XV, while Ryan Powell replaces Matt Powell at scrum-half and Drew Hickey replaces Tom Wood at blindside.

World Cup winner Mike Tindall returns at centre for the Cherry and Whites after injury and hooker Olivier Azam replaces Andy Titterell in the front row.

Warriors: Drahm, Delport, Rasmussen, Feau'nati, Garvey, Brown, R Powell, Morris, Fortey, Taumoepeau, Murphy, Gillies, Hickey, Sanderson, Horstmann. Reps: Windo, Gotting, Bowley, Quinnell, M Powell, Tucker, Pennell.

Gloucester: Morgan; Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Allen, Balshaw, Lamb, Prendergast, Wood, Azam, Nieto, Buxton , Brown, Strokosch, Hazell, Narraway. Reps: Titterrell, Califano, Pendlebury, Balding, Lewis, Walker, Bailey.