Skivington left unhappy after slow start proves costly yet again
GLOUCESTER head coach George Skivington blamed his side’s poor start and ‘butchering’ most of the chances they created for their 21-12 defeat to Harlequins at a sold-out Stoop.
The Cherry and Whites conceded two early tries to trail 14-0 and despite a combative effort from their pack, they were unable to claw back the deficit as their attack lacked any fluency.
Their tries came from their customary forte of line-out drives with number 8 Ben Morgan and hooker Santiago Socino both crossing, but it was not enough to prevent Gloucester from slumping to a third successive Premiership defeat.
Skivington said: “I believe I’m saying the same thing for the third week in a row as once again we can’t fault the fight but we’ve got to start respecting the first 10 minutes of Premiership games.
“We got sucked into playing a game that we didn’t want and played right into Quins’ hands.
“They took all their opportunities but we butchered most of ours. I was happy with the way we launched our attacks but we then tried to copy them with fancy off-loads, which didn’t pay-off.
“The second half was a brutal stalemate and a right ding-dong and that’s what it should have been from the start with two good teams going after each other.
“We rely on our decision-makers on the field but we should have taken a kick at goal in the final minutes to get us a bonus point.”
All the points came in the first half, with man of the match Danny Care scoring two tries for Harlequins and Dino Lamb also touching down.
The four-point haul from the win helped Quins move above Northampton into third place in the Premiership table behind Saracens and Sale, while
Gloucester, one of their main rivals in the battle for a play-off spot, lost ground by taking nothing from the match.
Quins turned down chances to kick two early penalties in favour of attacking line-outs and were rewarded when Care forced his way over after eight minutes.
Gloucester struggled to get a foothold in the match, the concession of frequent penalties not helping their cause, and it came as no surprise when they fell further behind to a try from Lamb after his second-row partner Irne Herbst had created the opportunity with a quick off-load.
The visitors badly needed a response and they got one from their forte, a driving line-out which ended with Morgan crashing over.
The try was the catalyst for the Cherry and Whites pack to dominate the second quarter and they looked set for a second try when Jake Morris collected a superb cross-field kick from Louis Rees-zammit but an excellent cover tackle from Quins full-back Nick David thwarted the Gloucester wing.
However, they were not denied for long as, moments later, Socino finished off another unstoppable line-out drive.
Back came Quins with a quick response. Captain Alex Dombrandt played a leading part in a flowing move which culminated with Care spotting a gap to dart over for his second score. Allan was again on target with the conversion to give his side a 21-12 interval lead.
Gloucester controlled the opening period of the second half but they lacked a cutting edge and were forced to introduce scrum-half Stephen Varney and centre Jack Reeves to try and improve their attacking potency.
A featureless third quarter finished scoreless as David brought off another excellent tackle by hauling down Morris, who had intercepted the ball inside his own 22 but lacked the speed to evade the cover defence.
Callum Murley threatened to get the scoreboard moving for the second half with a thrilling burst but Rees-zammit showed his mettle to race back and save the day, before the Wales wing was forced to leave the field with an injury to complete a miserable night for Gloucester.
Harlequins: David; Murley, Marchant, Esterhuizen, Bassett; Allan, Care; Marler, Walker, Louw, Lamb, Herbst, Kenningham, Evans, Dombrandt. Replacements: Head, Baxter, Kerrod, Hammond, White, Gjaltema Edwards, Northmore. Gloucester: Evans; Rees-zammit, Harris, Twelvetrees, Morris; Carreras, Chapman; Rapava Ruskin, Socino, Balmain, Clark, Alemanno, Ackermann, Ludlow, B. Morgan. Replacements: Singleton, Elrington, Knight, Jordan, Polledri, Varney, Barton, Reeves.
They took all their opportunities but we butchered most of ours George Skivington