Comeback kings Gloucester pull off best fightback
ASUPERB second-half performance saw Gloucester overturn their biggest-ever Premiership deficit to defeat Wasps 27-21 in the opening game of the new Gallagher Premiership season.
After a lacklustre first-half display, the Cherry and Whites looked down and out as Wasps raced into a 21-0 lead at the break thanks to converted tries by Charlie Atkinson, Brad Shields and Burger Odendaal.
However, the home side flew out of the blocks in the second and Louis Rees-zammit opened the scoring sprinting 90 metres to score a sensational solo try that kicked the hosts into gear with scores from Charlie Chapman, Freddie Clarke and a penalty try securing a hard-fought bonus-point win on opening day.
Head coach George Skivington said: “Wasps were definitely the better team in the first half, and we didn’t execute our plays or what we had set out to do. We had a couple of defensive wobbles, and Wasps took advantage.
“I didn’t go to the hairdryer (at halftime). The challenge was more that we’d had two months of pre-season working on various things, and it didn’t look like we had worked on them.
“We just got a bit clunky in the first half - poor connections in defence. I think we were calmer in the second half.
“No-one is going to be defined on the first game of the season.
“Every game is intense and tight. They ebb and flow, and there are no poor teams in the Premiership.
“I expect us to be better than we were last season,
“I think it is going to be a ferocious league, but I expect four or five teams to be better. I think it will be a real dogfight.”
Amongst all the action, here are some of the key moments you may have missed...
» May-be not quite yet
The Gloucester faithful were understandably jubilant with the return of top-flight action to the Kingsholm on Sunday afternoon, with many fans making their voices heard up to two hours before kick-off.
Plenty of star-studded names were in action, the likes of Louis Rees-zammit, Adam Hastings and Ruan Ackermann to name but a few.
Perhaps more noticeable however, was the absence of England winger Jonny May, who was not named in the matchday 23 by head coach George Skivington for the season opener having had a torrid summer with Covid.
May tested positive for Covid as soon as he landed in Australia with England and despite getting back into training towards the tour England’s second highest try scorer didn’t end up playing a single Test having lost a stone and seen his recently operated knee swell up.
Speaking about how he felt, May told the Daily Telegraph: “I felt like Mr Burns off the Simpsons - all weak and tired.
“After a week in my room and the season I’d had, I was pretty down and really felt like I would struggle to play. It’s one thing having Covid, in the real world and going back to work, but to go back to playing Test match rugby, off the back of a four-month injury, was a pretty big ask.”
However the Cherry and Whites flyer was involved heavily in the warm-up at Kingsholm, alongside many other matchday reserves, yet played no part in his side’s ensuing 27-21 victory.
It seems like it won’t want to wait long until the key man returns.
May is certainly chomping at the bit. He said: “I haven’t been this excited to play for a long time because I literally just want to flipping play. I’ve done so many rehab sessions, running on my own, sitting in my hotel room, I just want to play now. I’m not thinking about anything other than that.”
» Harry saves the day
This fixture was bound to produce drama looking back at the recent history between the two sides, and with the two teams named it was always going to be a fast, loose game with plenty of surprises.
The biggest surprise came from the visitors however, when they flew out of the blocks and left the hosts pinned against their own line inside the first ten minutes.
After a barrage of attacks, Wasps looked set to open the scoring when skipper Joe Launchbury barrelled towards the line, only to have his legs taken from beneath him courtesy of a textbook chop tackle from prop Harry Elrington.
The tackle was so powerful in fact, Elrington dislodged the ball from the grasp of Launchbury, rendering the threat to his team’s try-line well and truly over.
Not only did this lift those stood in the stands wearing Cherry and White, it set the tone for Elrington’s best performance in a Gloucester shirt to date, and that is saying something as the former London Irish loosehead has already proven himself to be an inspired signing.
Both sides of the ball, he never looked like stopping on Sunday until he was replaced to a standing ovation.
It was certainly a marker laid down ahead of the upcoming Autumn fixtures without a doubt, having been brought into the England camp last season without playing.
» Welcome Holm, Albert
Eyebrows were raised upon the announcement of Albert Tuisue arriving in the Westcountry, what with the likes of Ludlow, Reid, Ackermann, Polledri, Morgan and Bartlett already in situ in the Gloucester back row.
However, four carries, six tackles, two offloads and a late turnover, you can safely say this guy is on his way to becoming a firm fans’ favourite at Kingsholm like so many other Pacific Islanders before him, perhaps most recently fellow Fijian Akapusi Qera.
From the minute Tuisue entered the pitch in the 32nd minute, his barnstorming performance rejuvenated the home side, and his man of the match performance resonated with everyone wearing Cherry and White both on and off the pitch.
Skivington was certainly happy with Tuisue’s debut along with 20-year-old academy product flanker Harry Taylor.
Speaking post-match, he said: “I thought they were outstanding.
“Both brought great impetus, Albert came on a bit earlier than we had planned for, but his work rate and those moments showed why we brought him here.
“I’ve known Albert a long time, and he has a bit to learn about how things work here but he definitely got a taste for that today.”
A brilliant bit of business, what a signing...
» Hastings comes up clutch
With 66 minutes on the clock, and Wasps a man down courtesy of Tom Willis being sent to the sin bin, it was beginning to get significantly noisier inside Kingsholm.
With the score precariously teetering at 21-15 to the visitors, Gloucester earned a penalty just inside their own half, crucially however, just outside Adam Hastings’ goal-kicking range.
The next score was crucial; kick three points and make it a three-point contest or go for broke and get within striking distance of scoring a try.
Hastings opted for the latter and drilled the ball as deep into the corner of the shed end as he could, watching the ball creep into the corner just five metres away from the line, giving his forward pack everything, they could wish for.
Such was the accuracy of the kick; the hosts’ destructive driving maul got to work and forced a penalty try that put the home side in the lead.
Games are won by fine margins.
» Fantastic front-row replacements finish the job
It’s not often since the start of the George Skivington reign that Gloucester have struggled to impose their notorious driving maul upon any side in the Gallagher Premiership, hence the concern today when Wasps stifled it so efficiently.
The resistance lasted up until the hour mark, when Skivington rolled the dice and introduced his replacement front-row trio of Val Rapava-ruskin, Santiago Socino and Jamal Ford-robinson, who replace Elrington, Jack Singleton and Fraser Balmain.
The impact was almost instant, with Gloucester within one score at this stage, the trio turned the screw by earning their side a decisive penalty try, repeat scrum penalty for field position and defended valiantly to secure their side a crucial five points to start the season.
Those six front-rowers as a collective are as strong a group of front rows anywhere in the Premiership.
Their impact off the bench will be of huge significance this season, and if they can perform as they did here, will give Gloucester an excellent chance at reaching the top-four come May.