Players went off-script, admits boss Skivington
GLOUCESTER head coach George Skivington was frustrated at some of his players for going “off script” as their unbeaten run of four games came to an end against Exeter at Kingsholm on Friday night.
The Cherry & Whites led 13-6 at the interval thanks to a try from Jack Singleton and eight points from the boot of Adam Hastings, but they missed opportunities to kill their opponents off in the ten minutes after the restart.
Exeter made them pay for their profligacy by scoring two tries via Alec Hepburn and Will Witty, with Harvey Skinner having contributed a pair of first-half penalties.
Skivington said: “We had our chances but we weren’t accurate enough by making a few basic errors and we need to be more clinical if we are going to stay in the top half of the table.
“The challenge was to match Exeter in terms of physicality and work rate and we passed that test with flying colours.
“Exeter are a quality team and will finish in the top four, but I’m frustrated and disappointed that some of our boys went off script and our execution must be better.
“We looked great at times, but then became pretty poor and we keep letting sides back in, so part of our growth has to be closing games out. We are in a good spot and have
GLOUCESTER RUGBY ... 13 EXETER CHIEFS ............. 16
grown a lot from last year, but we are still not playing at the top end of our game and there is loads to reflect on, so the break (Gloucester have a bye next weekend) has come at a good time.”
Exeter rugby director Rob Baxter was delighted with his side’s improvement after last week’s surprise home defeat at the hands of London Irish.
He said: “It was a very hardfought win and a very different game to last week.
“After we got in front we still looked edgy, but even if it had slipped away from us at the end I could have walked away with some satisfaction because we had more consistency to our game.”
Gloucester: Woodward; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Twelvetrees, Carreras; Hastings, Meehan; Rapava Ruskin, Singleton, Balmain, Clarke, Davidson, Ackermann, Ludlow, B Morgan. Replacements: Moyle for Woodward (62), Chapman for Meehan (63), Elrington for Rapava Ruskin (58), Socino for Singleton (58), Gotovtsev for Balmain (53), Clement for Davidson (58). Not Used: Thomas, Evans.
Scorers – Tries:
Hastings 2.
Exeter: Hogg; Nowell, Hendrickson, Devoto, Cordero; H Skinner, Maunder; Hepburn, Yeandle, Williams, Witty, Lonsdale, S Skinner, Armand, Capstick. Replacements: Whitten for Devoto (64), Hidalgo-Clyne for Maunder (64), Moon for Hepburn (69), Iosefa-Scott for Williams (69), Tuima for Capstick (59). Not Used: Burrows, Tshiunza, J Simmonds.
Scorers – Tries: Hepburn, Witty. Pens:
Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU).
Singleton. Cons:
Hastings. Pens:
H Skinner 2.