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Young fury at cup shake-up
Cardiff Blues begin their defence of the LV= Cup amid a critical volley from director of rugby David Young.
Young is disappointed by the scheduling of the competition during the international window, meaning his Blues have lost 10 players to Wales duty for Sunday's trip to Gloucester.
The format hands an advantage to the 12 Guinness Premiership clubs, according to Young.
"We always get excited about playing English opposition, but it's probably not the same tournament as we won last year," he said.
"It's a little bit disappointing from my point of view that they are being played without the major international players and so on.
"Certainly the way I see it, the English teams are going to be affected far less than the Welsh teams."
Gloucester sit third from bottom in the Premiership but Young fears his Blues will face a side still be smarting from last season's clean sweep of defeats.
"Gloucester will want to put the record straight after we beat them three times in the Heineken Cup and Anglo Welsh Cup," he said.
"They are probably still carrying a lot of pain from our fixtures last year and will be determined to put the record straight."
Gloucester fly-half Nicky Robinson returns to face his former club while Scotland internationals Rory Lawson, Scott Lawson and Alasdair Strokosch are also back.
England forwards Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley, both recently back from injury, start in Wasps' all-Premiership showdown with London Irish.
It is an important match for Shaw, who had hoped to make his Test comeback against Argentina next Saturday.
Harlequins beat Scarlets twice in last season's Heineken Cup yet will start their Anglo-Welsh clash at Twickenham Stoop as underdogs.
Scarlets have beaten London Irish and Brive in Europe already this season.
Scrum-half James Grindal will captain Leicester for the first time when the Tigers travel to Leeds, who have selected 13 academy players in their squad.
Saracens centre Kevin Sorrell will make his 300th appearance for the club when they host Bath at Vicarage Road.
