Ackermann working to eliminate Gloucester’s ‘kamikaze’ moments

Ackermann will use the impending preseason to improve his side’s hit-and-miss decisionmaking.

South African Ackermann joined the Cherry and Whites as head coach only towards the end of last season’s pre-season as he fulfilled his commitments with Super Rugby franchise the Lions.

He said: “I’m looking forward to it tremendously. There will be time to really get to know the players personally. During the season, you try and do stuff but there’s no real time when there’s not pressure on you.

“Now we can really spend some quality time together.

“As we saw last season, there was exciting rugby but there were a lot of mistakes. We’ll be working on that decision-making and those mistakes so we can start better.

“It’s about putting in the team values and being part of that growth of the team in that period.

“Life is never predictable. As much as the pre-season can go well we still have to do the job once the competitions start, but hopefully with a couple of weeks with the players we’ll all know each other better, they’ll know exactly our philosophies in certain areas and we’ll see better results.”

Gloucester owner Martin St Quinton is also expecting a more consistent season this time around.

He said: “A full preseason under Johan will make a huge difference.

“I think Johan would be the first to accept there were a few kamikaze moments throughout the season, but certainly in the first half in the Challenge Cup final you saw a very exciting brand of rugby which was pragmatic and good to watch. If we can produce that for 80 minutes week in week out we will be formidable.

“It’s a four or five-year programme and we’re only a year into that programme now with Johan and his team, and so far so good.”