Tomorrow night sees Wasps entertain Gloucester at Loftus Road and Bath travel to London Irish.

New Gloucester director of rugby Nigel Melville has backed the decision to appoint Lawrence Dallaglio as England skipper for the summer tour to Argentina.

Melville knows the burly back-row better than most after spending six years working with Dallaglio at Wasps.

After leaving London for Kingsholm in March, Melville is now looking to find a way of stopping the rampaging number eight to keep the west country side's faint title hopes alive with victory in the re-arranged Premiership clash at Loftus Road on Wednesday.

But the former England scrum-half is adamant that Dallaglio - who lost the captaincy following the publication of a story in which he was quoted as saying he had taken drugs, which he later denied - is the right man to lead his country in the absence of rested first choice Martin Johnson.

Dallaglio paid a heavy price for what he eventually admitted was an attempt to 'impress' his undercover interrogators, but has recently bounced back from a far more serious blot on his career.

The 29-year-old underwent major knee reconstruction surgery in the summer after limping out of the Lions tour.

He has still only played one full Premiership match since his return, although the superb performance against champions-elect Leicester 10 days ago earned Dallaglio an England replacements' spot against Italy at the weekend.

"Picking Lawrence as captain for the England tour is absolutely the right decision," said Melville.

"The people who suggested his career might have been over didn't know what they were talking about. I know how much pain he has gone through, but I know how determined he was to come back.

"I was delighted to see him score for England on Sunday, although we will be trying to stop him tomorrow."

Melville's main concern is not to shout instructions to the home team, such is the familiarity with the Loftus Road surroundings.

"It will be quite strange watching one team I know well, playing against one that I will be coaching but don't know as well," he said.

"Gloucester have never beaten Wasps at Loftus Road either, so the statistics aren't in our favour, but I'm really looking forward to going back and meeting up with everyone again."

Melville is officially not allowed to take up his coaching role until after Wednesday night's clash under the agreement he made when he left Wasps last month.

However, his imprint is already clearly visible on a side who must win and then beat Northampton at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday to prevent Leicester picking up the their fourth successive title this weekend.

England prop Phil Vickery is again absent with a stress fracture of his lower leg, although Melville is hopeful he will return for Saturday's Northampton trip.

Rugby league recruit Henry Paul is on the bench following his appearance for England A in Italy at the weekend, while winger Tom Beim is back after almost a year out with a shoulder problem.

Melville's predecessor Warren Gatland has made one change from the side which defeated Leicester, bringing in Paul Sampson for Scotland winger Kenny Logan.

Bath coach Michael Foley will not finalise his team to face London Irish at the Madejski Stadium until Wednesday morning.

However, Iain Balshaw impressed with a short stint at fly-half in defeat to Northampton 10 days ago and could be given a permanent run in the relegation-haunted side.

Double Cup chasers London Irish are looking to cement a top-four berth and coach Brendan Venter makes one change to his starting line-up with Naka Drotske at hooker in place of Richard Kirke.

However, with the Powergen Cup final clash against Northampton looming on April 20, Venter does have Simon Halford (calf) and Neal Hatley (biceps) available after long-injury lay-offs and names both on the bench.