Gloucester enter the game fifth in the Premiership after ending Northampton Saints’ 17-match winning home run with a 25-17 victory at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday.

Skivington said number eight Mercer and wing Ollie Thorley are on crutches and will have scans on knee injuries sustained during that win, but he has been impressed by the performances of his fringe players and expects to rotate his team in the Challenge Cup.

“They haven’t lost there in over a year, so to hold them out in the second half in the way that we did was great,” he said, having overseen redemption for a 90-0 defeat at Northampton in May.

“We saw the best on both sides of the ball; we attacked really well in the first half and got really tested defensively in the second half. The character in collisions and the workrate was outstanding.

“We’d like a bit of balance – not one half attack, one half defend – but the good thing is we’ve shown our mettle and how much it means. You don’t fight that hard unless you’ve got a common cause and a really good group who are tight-knit.

“It gives us a good benchmark. We knew Saints was the ultimate test, to see if we could go there and match their game that was so impressive last season.

“It wasn’t the complete performance that we were shooting for, but there were lots of good signs there.”