Costly errors but Quins’ game plan worked perfectly
HARLEQUINS travelled to Kingsholm with a plan and executed it perfectly. The head coach Paul Gustard will have relished the opportunity to set up his side to have an accurate, energetic kick chase pressurising the Gloucester attack.
With the back three Gloucester possesses every club in the league knows that they are going to counterattack with the ball in hand.
If the opposition defence is passive, they will wreak havoc.
Quins stopped the counter time and again, with Gloucester reacting with poor kicks or having the contact area put under enormous pressure.
It was so hard for the Gloucester forwards to be effective at any breakdown when in front of the ball and having to retreat to get to the ruck area.
On the other hand the Quins forwards were energised to make the breakdown when they could see the attacking player in a vulnerable isolated position, which resulted in penalties against Gloucester.
As the game progressed Gloucester players’ body language changed, becoming more anxious.
There I believe is Gloucester’s problem - the senior player group does not seem to be able to react to what is happening on the field.
Of course, there is a heap of information coming from the touchline, but players must be able to process the information and react accordingly.
It is not easy, when the opposition has the momentum in the game. One thing you must not do is chase the game; that is going away from the structure you wanted to apply from the start, force a pass that is not on, or run from a position that required the ball to be kicked. Danny Cipriani is one of the best fly-halfs in the game and wins Gloucester games time after time - but this game will not be on his career highlight reel.
With such pressure being applied by the Londoners and with hindsight, a pragmatic approach
may have been the better route to go down, kicking for territory, tightening the game up through the forwards, going hard down the middle of the park, as demonstrated by Jake Polledri.
Unfortunately, this is not in the maverick fly-half’s DNA.
In the post-match interview Gloucester head coach said it was a back to the drawing board, but he also said that his side created enough to win the game, which I agree with. They left a lot out there.
There is a lot talked about in the modern game regarding structure, systems, and game plans.
Whatever you call it, you cannot legislate for player error and a high percentage of Gloucester players made unforced errors - some more glaring than others.
Ollie Thorley dropped the ball, which he has not done all season, and the position he plays means his errors are glaring.
The major plus is you know that Gloucester will create try-scoring opportunities, they do every game.
Alex King, the backs coach, will just need to hone the skills and concentration so the opportunities that the Cherry & Whites work so hard to create are productive.
Did Gloucester play well? Not particularly - but they could and should have won this game by some way.
This will be some sort of comfort to the Gloucester coaching staff.
The Exeter defeat at Sandy Park last week will go down in history as a loss with no points gained.
But this was a moral victory for the much-changed Gloucester side.
You can see a Skivington stamp on his team already, one that played with heart, edge, passion, mixed with a load of skill.
I say it had Skivington’s stamp because the last time the Gloucester head coach made mass changes they got whacked at Saracens, but with more time with his players this display was far more encouraging.
Skivington often speaks of hard work, endeavour, and fight, which I agree with but surely this must be a given every time you pull on that most famous C&W shirt.
What do these couple of results now mean? Gloucester still need a point to make the top eight and make it into the Champions Cup.
Their next game sees Gloucester travel to Bath who are in great form, and this will be a cracker.
If Gloucester can bring some accuracy to their game and convert their chances which they undoubtedly can do, they will create the league points required in the bag.