Gloucester go back to roots for dogged win
GLOUCESTER dispelled memories of last week’s abject defeat at Leicester with an old-style victory at a roaring Kingsholm against a Saracens team who are beginning to find it hard going during the Six Nations period.
It was the champions’ second defeat on the trot and it was also the first occasion this season that they have failed to gain even a bonus point from a game.
For a spell midway through the second half it looked as though they might pull this one out of the fire but from the moment the scores were levelled up 23-23 just after the hour it was Gloucester who dug deep, growled defiance and took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Willie Heinz and his men thoroughly deserved a win that will please the Gloucester faithful more than almost any victory in the last couple of years.
Everybody knows that Gloucester need to develop their game but that can never be at the expense of the club’s heart and soul and this was a gutsy, stroppy and brave performance to warm the heart.
Up in the stands Eddie Jones will have enjoyed seeing Mako Vunipola put himself to good effect for 70 minutes on his return from injury – he was probably Saracens stand-out player – but surely also have found time to note a MoM performance from Gloucester’s classy full-back Tom Marshall, who scarcely put a foot wrong all evening.
The New Zealand-reared Marshall is impeccably qualified through his English grandparents and expressed his hopes of challenging for England honours when he arrived in 2015.
Serious injuries have halted his progress but he was back to his consummate best against Saracens and don’t be surprised if he is on the plane to Argentina this summer when the big cats are touring New Zealand with the Lions.
In a first half of pleasing ebb and flow, it was Saracens, playing unusually loose, who started the strongest after an early Billy Burns penalty and moved into a useful lead with a converted try by Schalk Brits and an Alex Lozowski penalty.
The visitors were looking dangerous but Glos nipped that in the bud by storming back with a strong spell of pressure themselves which resulted for a try for the deserving Marshall.
Lozowksi and Burns swapped penalties and then right on the stroke of halftime, Brad Barritt was penalised for lifting Halaifonua’s leg in a tackle.
The threat of a dangerous challenge was more potential than real and Sarries might consider themselves hard done by but Burns gratefully took the points.
Gloucester were dominant early in the second half and increased their lead when Kiwi Jeremy Thrush poached a try, although a microscopic examination of the play would reveal the smallest of knock-ons from Heinz.
Sarries hit back with another Lozowski penalty and a try from Will Fraser from a lineout rumble when Glos were down to 14 after Paul Doran-Jones had been binned for collapsing a maul.
All level again, and despite a head knock to Billy Burns which saw James Hook come on, from that moment it was Gloucester who were more positive. Following a thrilling counter attack Richard Hibbard burrowed over from a lineout drive to produce the match winning score. said. “Our effort was good, we started well and played some good rugby. We were disappointed not to get something out of the game but we were not as composed as we usually are. We tried to chance our arm a few times when perhaps it wasn’t the best thing to do.”
Gloucester try scorer Richard Hibbard says it was important to bounce back from the team’s worst performance of the season, at Leicester, last week
“We had a terrible game last week and we asked for a reaction,” he said. “The scrum was a big positive, it was something we worked on this week. Now we need to build on this win, take positives and go to Wasps confident.”