Metro (UK)

Ackermann will not put boot into Billy for defeat 23 19

- By JACK FOX

JOHAN ACKERMANN refused to blame Gloucester’s defeat at Harlequins on Billy Twelvetree­s’ late missed penalty as his side slipped to their fifth loss in a row in all competitio­ns.

Gloucester outscored their opponents three tries to two thanks to Ollie Thorley’s first-half double and Ben Morgan’s rampaging second-half effort.

But ill-discipline meant they still trailed their hosts 20-19 with time almost up before they were awarded a kickable penalty to restore their lead in a topsy-turvy encounter.

Twelvetree­s, on as a second-half replacemen­t, stepped up but pushed his effort wide and Quins survived, sealing the win with Marcus Smith’s third penalty of the night.

Ackermann was in no mood to single out his centre, however, blaming the defeat on a number of other factors.

‘It was gusty out there and it’s always a bit of pressure when the crowd get on your back as well,’ he said. ‘[Twelvetree­s] will be disappoint­ed with it, but we can’t put that as the reason we lost the game. It’s just one of those things.

‘I don’t think we are far off but we obviously need to be better if we want to compete because the quality of the teams is such that, if you are off your game and you make too many mistakes like we did tonight with our discipline, you are going to struggle.’

Alex Dombrandt earned the man-ofthe-match award with what proved to be the winning try in the second half and Quins boss Paul Gustard said: ‘He’s a big player for us because he gets points, he gets line breaks, he gets momentum and I thought the back row in general were excellent.’

 ?? PICTURE: GETTY ?? Line breaker: Quins’ Dombrandt caps a man-of-the-match display with a second-half try
PICTURE: GETTY Line breaker: Quins’ Dombrandt caps a man-of-the-match display with a second-half try

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