Gloucester's preparations for their key clash with London Irish got off to a difficult start as the majority of their squad were stranded in France until last night.

Saturday's high winds in the south-west of France meant the bulk of the Gloucester squad who faced Biarritz on Friday left the country more than 48 hours after their scheduled departure.

Eight of the Gloucester party, including injured pair Alex Brown and Will James, managed to get back to England over the weekend.

But the remainder of the squad – plus head coach Dean Ryan and several members of his staff – only landed back on home soil last night. They are expected to return to training today.

Gloucester's England players had to fly straight from France to Portugal for the national team's week-long training camp, while the rest of the group were forced to spend two extra nights in a hotel.

But while their preparations have hardly had the ideal start, Gloucester are likely to receive some positive news on the playing front this week.

Three first-choice back-rowers – Peter Buxton, Andy Hazell and Gareth Delve – are all expected to recover from injury to face Irish at Kingsholm on Saturday.

Buxton is close to recovering from a foot problem he suffered in the 42-12 defeat against Irish at the Madejski Stadium last month, while Hazell is on course to overcome the knee injury which has kept him out for nine weeks.

And Delve is expected to declare his availability after making rapid progress following major knee surgery last summer.