Gloucester respond to Ackermann challenge by blitzing Bath
It is not how you start, it is how you finish, and Gloucester’s performance in their West Country derby bonus-point victory summed that up well.
A few words of advice from Johan Ackermann, the Gloucester head coach, put his side on the front foot at half-time to roar back to a fourth victory of the Premiership season and third place overnight in the table.
“I told the players that it was a soldout stadium and to at least show the supporters more than in the first half,” Ackermann said.
“I challenged the players to take the responsibility and act like a team that wants to win this game. That is the character of the group that they accepted the challenge.”
Gloucester had been stuttering, error-strewn and non-cohesive as they turned around 9-7 down, having shot themselves in the foot by letting deadly Bath fly-half Rhys Priestland have four shots at goal, three of which he kicked.
The hosts had scored in the opening five minutes when a great break from lock Franco Mostert saw him grounded within a metre of the try-line.
The Gloucester pack overwhelmed their opponents to win the ruck, giving captain Willi Heinz the perfect ball to feed full-back Jason Woodward, who was unstoppable from short range.
Fly-half Danny Cipriani landed the conversion but it then became a case of Gloucester errors letting Bath back into the game through Priestland’s boot.
The home side were penalised twice for not rolling away from a ruck and once for offside in the loose, which, on all three occasions, Priestland scored.
It should have been more for the visitors as they missed a golden chance of a try when No8 Taulupe Faletau broke from halfway and fed England wing Anthony Watson, who returned the ball inside for the Wales back row to be pulled down short.
Outside Watson on his right, and with the line at his mercy, was Bath captain Francois Louw, who was left frustrated to see the ball go to his backrow partner instead of his own hands.
Bath dominated possession during the opening period, and had over 70 per cent territory advantage, but when Gloucester upped their game in the second half, they had little answer. From 15-12 down just before the hour, Gloucester turned on the turbo chargers to run away with the match with some power plays that had the home crowd lifting the roof off their famous old stadium. Flanker Freddie Clarke finished off a maul from an attacking line-out five minutes into the second period, but Cipriani inexplicably sliced the conversion from in front of the posts.
But soon after, Gloucester had earned a four-try bonus point. Replacement Gerbrandt Grobler, only on the pitch for two minutes, took a pass from a ruck on the line to cross after Italy flanker Jake Polledri had dashed to within touching distance of scoring.
Centre Billy Twelvetrees took over the kicking duties from Cipriani and slotted the conversion.
The former England international then added the extras when No8 Ruan Ackermann was on hand to grab the fourth try. Bath looked shocked at the revival and had little to give in return.
Twlevetrees rubbed salt in the wounds with a penalty a few minutes from the end as local bragging rights went to Gloucester.
They will be at full strength to tackle Montpellier in the European Champions Cup, in which they still have ambitions of success, on Saturday.
Bath, having not won a match in their Champions Cup group, have two dead rubbers and time to work out how to attack their main priority of reaching the Premiership top four.
Stuart Hooper, their director of rugby, said: “We were frustrated and disappointed. They are a fantastic defensive team, so we looked to keep pressure on them, which we did.
“In the second half, I feel we physically lost touch. We started to lose collisions and that puts you on the back foot.”