Skivington: Evans was outstanding

Gloucester head coach hails 19-point fly-half following victory against Falcons

GEORGE Skivington hailed the “outstanding” Lloyd Evans after the fly-half kicked 19 points to spearhead Gloucester Rugby to a 29-20 home victory over Newcastle Falcons in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday.

Evans was only called into the starting line-up this week when Scotland stand-off Adam Hastings was forced to withdraw due to a knock suffered in training, but his five penalties and two conversions of tries scored by Val Rapava-Ruskin and Jonny May saw the Cherry & Whites to victory at Kingsholm.

Evans, right, said: “I really enjoyed it, but it was a tough, niggly game as it always is against Newcastle. It was also a funny one as we couldn’t get any phases going to our play.

“There was a big momentum shift in the second half, but the biggest thing is that we survived it and came back to win it.”

Head coach Skivington was full of praise for Evans’ efforts. He said: “Lloyd was outstanding. He was a late change and it’s been frustrating for him to sit out the last few games.

“It was an ugly game, but they are a pressure team that makes it hard and niggly. There will be loads to look at, but I’m pleased that when we got into the 22, we came away with points although we left a couple of scores out there.

“When they got it back to 16-13 there was a danger of all our hard work being undone, but we pulled through. Our rolling maul was again a success, as the stats show it’s currently the best in the league. It’s a real strength and focal point for us, but we have been working on it for the past 15 months.”