Defensive focus ahead of European tests
‘WOUNDED’ George Skivington is taking his side back to basics over the next couple of weeks as Gloucester head into the European Challenge Cup with the focus being re-discovering their defensive steel.
The Cherry and Whites switch competitions having lost their last six games in the Gallagher Premiership including a humiliating 51-26 defeat away at Bristol Bears last weekend to really increase the pain.
Defensive coach Dom Waldouck will be having nightmares after he watched a rampant Bristol beat 49 defenders at Ashton Gate - to put that in perspective, that is the highest number of defenders beaten ever recorded in a Premiership game.
Those horrifying numbers, which resulted in Bristol scoring more points against their West Country rival than ever before, has sharped the focus for Gloucester director of rugby Skivington, who said: “Getting a scoreline like that against you just highlights how far we have dropped off from our best.
“The reality of the last few weeks is we have tried to push things on, layer on our attack and change a few bits in the programme which we felt would take us to another level but somewhere down the line we left behind the identity we had built up over the last couple of years built around our defence and setpiece. It was big kick for us at the weekend.
“We have always taken a lot of pride in our defence so last weekend was a big wound for us and we are going to do something about that and revisit a few principles we have always been very good at but haven’t over the last few weeks.”
He continued: “We have been a top-four defence over the last couple of years, it has been one of the areas that has been outstanding and we have taken a lot of pride in that.
“We have been honest enough as a group to say we haven’t hammered that hard enough [in training]. You think things are installed and you shift your mindset a little bit and then you watch the footage and it is amazing to see how much we have dropped.
“We haven’t changed our defensive systems or anything like that, we have just focused on other areas of our game, but there is no point in pushing on our game in attack if we can’t keep teams out.”
Gloucester head to Georgia this week to take on the Black Lion on Saturday, before hosting Clermont the following week.
While the poor run of results hasn’t dramatically changed Skivington’s selection plans, with the former lock a director of rugby who likes to plan ahead, he intends to make the most of the five-day mini-camp.
He said: “There is an element that it’s a good time for some of us to spend some time together, get a bit of bonding in.
“We’ve done a lot of talking since the game at the weekend, but I think when you get away in a hotel it gives you an opportunity to have some one-onones, some little group chats, and just some good honesty.
He concluded, optimistically: “It is a good group here. I don’t think this group is rattled. They are very disappointed with what we put out on the field but we just need to get back to some basics, and core principles and get our identity back.”