British & Irish Lions centre Billy Twelvetrees admits it would be sweet to cap off an indifferent season at Gloucester with a European trophy.
Twelvetrees and his teammates are preparing to face Edinburgh at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday night, with the winner taking home some much-coveted silverware.
Alongside the 26-year-old is hooker Richard Hibbard, who joined Twelvetrees on the 2013 Lions tour to Australia, as well as fly-half James Hook – a 2009 tourist to South Africa.
Victory will give Gloucester’s chances of playing in Europe’s top tier next season a real shot in the arm and Twelvetrees is hoping to ensure that is exactly what happens.
“With the up-and-down season we have had, potentially winning on Friday and the play-off system to get into the top tier of Europe will be a huge bonus,” he told the Press Association.
“Europe has been great for us, to go places and win where we have never won before – and getting a home quarter-final and semi-final on the back of that – was crucial for us. To take that momentum into Friday is massive.
“We set our goals at the beginning of the year and one of those was to get silverware. To be involved in a European final is massive for a group of players that has just come together and to lift silverware individually is big for us.
“There are young players in the squad who have not experienced finals before and others with experience who have spoken well this week.”
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