EBBW Vale coach Mike Ruddock is hoping his side can produce a performance that will turn Gloucester's supporters against their own side at Kingsholm tonight (7.05pm) in their European Shield quarter-final.

Having fulfilled their ambition to qualify for the last eight of the competition, Vale go into tonight's game as big underdogs.

But while nobody underestimates the task facing the Steelmen, Ruddock is hopeful Vale can produce an explosive opening that will rattle Gloucester and perhaps turn their vocal crowd against them.

Gloucester's supporters, especially in the stand at Kingsholm, known as 'The Shed', are a hardened bunch who will give their team just as tough a time as the opposition if things are not going their way.

Ebbw Vale are no strangers to playing tough matches away, having faced both Agen and Montauban in the Shield and suffering only narrow defeats, especially in Montauban when they were ahead into injury time, only to suffer a 19-15 reversal.

Ruddock said: "We are looking to create home disadvantage for them. If we can disrupt their game it will be frustrating for them and the crowd. We have learnt that playing twice in France this season.

"When the crowd gets on the back of their team it creates pressure. "I know from my own experiences with Leinster, who won at Leicester, that the impossible can be achieved.

But Ruddock has been involved in rugby long enough to know the odds are stacked against him and added: "Let's be under no illusions, this is a huge task for us. "Our objective was to reach the quarter-finals and we have achieved it. Saying that, we are now in our cup final and we have to give it our best shot.

"If we could get a win, it would be a massive boost to the team and the town. "It's not an easy place to go and play. When I was a player at Swansea we used to play them as the second match of the season and the Gloucester style then was as it is now, a big tough pack of forwards backed up with a big kicker.

"But we have learned a lot from our experiences of playing in France and I was impressed with the way the players responded positively and kept their concentration." But Ruddock knows all too well how bruising the match will be for his fledgling side when he joked: "I have vivid memories of playing at Kingsholm and some not so vivid recollections of Gloucester's Royal Infirmary."

*PICTURED: Ebbw Vale coach Mike Ruddock (centre) signs a commemorative ball held by Chay Billen (left) and Gareth Cull.