‘Honest’ George lights fire under Glos
GLOUCESTER staged an excellent secondhalf rally to overcome a 14 point deficit to win an entertaining game at Kingsholm.
At the end of the first quarter Gloucester looked sure-fire losers as Falcons built up a 21-7 lead with their powerful pack bossing the show against a fragile home side.
Gloucester head coach George Skivington said: “Newcastle had the edge in terms of physicality in the first half as we were approaching the game individually not collectively.
“We gave away too many penalties so we had a good honest talk at half-time and we had a real edge to us after the interval.”
In that second half, Ruan Ackermann and Lewis Ludlow raised Gloucester from their slumbers with action packed performances as injurydisrupted opponents fell away tamely.
The experienced Willi Heinz was crucially introduced to add some direction to the hosts’ play and his reward was two tries but the star of the show was undoubtedly Louis Rees-Zammit who was a constant threat.
The explosive wing blitzed over for Gloucester’s opener and the
coaching staff must find ways of ensuring that the Welshman receives more possession.
Newcastle can take heart from their first-half performance with George McGuigan and Callum Chick leading the way
up front which enabled skipper Micky Young to control proceedings before his half-time departure.
Newcastle took an early lead when Chick rewarded a period of pressure to force his way over but Gloucester soon responded with an excellent try.
A burst from Mark Atkinson created space for Rees-Zammit and the wing took full advantage by powering past weak tackles from Tom Penny and Chidera Obonna to score.
The explosive start to the game continued with a third try in the opening 11 minutes with McGuigan burrowing his way over to put Falcons back in front.
Gloucester conceded five penalties in the opening quarter and were again made to pay when Luther Burrell made a half-break to create a second try for Chick before the hosts suffered a further setback when England wing,
Jonny May, walked off having aggravated an ankle niggle picked up earlier in the week.
But Rees-Zammitt raised their spirits by splitting the visitors’ defence with a superb run to earn his side a platform in the Falcons 22 but, despite a succession of lineout drives, the home side couldn’t capitalise and trailed 21-7 at the interval.
After the restart, Gloucester roared back into contention with two quick tries. First Stephen Varney broke away from a maul to provide Ackermann
with an easy run in but Varney was immediately replaced by Heinz and within minutes the substitute was on the scoresheet as Gloucester drew level with a superb try,
From inside their own 22, Santiago Carreras made a clean break to send Rees-Zammit away with Heinz up in support to collect the inside pass and score.
Newcastle lost the impressive Burrell to a shoulder injury but they regained the lead with a penalty from Brett Connon.
The game was in the balance but Gloucester took control when it mattered as Lloyd Evans forced his way past two defenders to score the bonus point try before Heinz pounced on a Falcons error to seal victory.