Gloucester left to rue what might have been
EVEN inflicting the second heaviest Premiership defeat on Saracens was not enough to secure a play-off berth for Gloucester who were left cursing a stumble in the final three months of the campaign that left them chasing an improbable dream yesterday.
They did what they had to against a largely secondstring Saracens who were preoccupied by next weekend’s play-off semi-final against Harlequins.
Gloucester again deployed their driving maul to devastating effect: three of their eight tries were scored by their hookers and the lineout has been the launchpad for more than 60 per cent of their tries this season.
They turned their first four forays into the Sarries 22 into tries while their opponents got nothing from their first four visits. A lack of cohesion in a side which showed 15 changes from the last Premiership round was no surprise and it was exploited by Gloucester who under George Skivington have turned the maul into an art form.
For all their flowing play and free scoring which took them to within a try of exceeding the 60-10 victory Wasps achieved against Saracens two years ago, it was defence that defined Gloucester who from the start piled into opponents who a month before had overwhelmed them in the Challenge Cup quarter-final at Kingsholm.
Gloucester’s back row stood out individually and collectively but the tone was set from the opening minute by lock Matias Alemanno who was invariably close to the ball and made decisive interventions in defence and attack.
He brewed the spirit Gloucester used to overwhelm opponents who may have been second string but were far from second-rate. Behind, Santiago Carreras confirmed that his future at the club
lies at full-back, marking an afternoon of deceptive footwork, slick-offloading and the eye for a gap with a try.
Despite the potency of a back division which welcomed back England wing Jonny May for his first appearance since the trip to Saracens in January, there is a deliberation and calculation about Gloucester that has made them more consistent and lifted them from 11th in the table to fifth.
The next step for them is to seize moments. They will reflect on the second half collapse to Harlequins in the last round that ultimately cost them fourth place, but recoveries are a habit of Quins. Before that, they lost narrowly away to Bristol and at home to Wasps, matches they should have won.
Hooker Jack Singleton opened the scoring after eight minutes with the first of his two rolling maul tries against his former club and Jordi Reid doubled the home side’s lead 10 minutes later when, after another line-out drive, Ben Meehan’s perfectly timed pass to the flanker flatfooted the defence.
Carreras’s try made it 21-0 at the interval and within four minutes of the restart, Singleton secured the bonus point after another lineout following Tim Swinson’s yellow card for a high challenge on Ollie Thorley.
Thorley scored the fifth, surging through the midfield with Chris Harris’s help and when replacement hooker Santiago Socino made it 40-0 nearing the last quarter, a rare nil for Saracens beckoned.
They had only suffered the indignity twice, against Wasps in 2003 and 2010. Max Malins ensured it did not happen a third time after Gloucester lost control of the ball, but a length of the field move finished by Louis ReesZammit and a shorter range effort by Jack Clement left Gloucester confident of going one better next season.