Confidence high as Gloucester get set for Bath clash
THERE is a quiet confidence exuding from the Gloucester Rugby camp heading into the West Country derby away at Bath on Saturday.
And the Cherry and Whites’ confidence is well founded, having won the last four derby meetings in all competitions, including a record-breaking 64-0 victory the last time these two sides met in the Gallagher Premiership.
Since then former Munster head coach Johann van Graan has taken over as head of rugby at Bath from Stuart Hooper, but results on the pitch are yet to pick up with the club sitting bottom of the Premiership table with four defeats from four in the league as well as a 29-15 Premiership Rugby Cup loss to Gloucester at the Rec last week.
While Bath are using the ‘hurt’ of last season’s humiliation as fuel for Saturday, Cherry and Whites head coach George Skivington says the fact his side are facing the Blue, Black and Whites this weekend is barely of note.
He said: “I think the derby days are great and I have fully embraced them for what they are since I have been here, whatever the result there is a good buzz and the whole community gets up for it.
“From our point of view, it is about delivering a performance. We were pretty gutted with that Sarries result [losing 41-39 in the last play of the game]. We worked hard to put ourselves in a good position to get a result and didn’t quite manage it out.”
Skvington has certainly had time to focus on his side’s shortcomings at the Stonex Stadium with the club’s game with Worcester Warriors last weekend cancelled due to their opponents being suspended from the league as a result of their financial collapse.
A decision on how the points will be allocated from that fixture is still to be decided by Premiership Rugby.
Looking ahead to Bath, Skivington said: “The focus has really been on us. We don’t necessarily need to be talking about anyone else, we have got a desire to get better and do better than we did last year so that is our motivation heading into the derby.”
Of course, the former lock is not taking the game lightly, saying: “They have got some serious threats in their squad and have a star-studded squad so we fully expect it to be a competitive game.
“We have been watching their games and they have been doing some good things.
“Johann has come in and has got his ideas, I have got empathy with him because I know how long that can take to install and get everyone aligned but you can see what they are trying to do.
“We are only four games into the Premiership so it is difficult to pick out any themes yet because you know everyone will improve. I think what is important is we deliver what we are capable of.”
Quite frankly, Gloucester are looking stronger than ever heading into the derby.
Argentina stars Santiago Carreras and Matias Alemanno are back in the mix from their international duty in the Rugby Championship to add some additional star quality to the backs and pack respectively.
Meanwhile, England winger Jonny May and club captain Lewis Ludlow made their first appearances of the season in the cup win over Bath last week and along with Jake Polledri are pushing for a first-team return in two areas of strength, wing and back-row.