Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Skivington demands 80-minute showing
STRUGGLING Gloucester Rugby face one of the two sides sitting below them in the ten-team Gallagher Premiership table this afternoon when Leicester Tigers come to Kingsholm.
With a third of the Premiership campaign now played, both the Cherry & Whites and Tigers – sitting eighth and ninth respectively – have underperformed by their own high expectations. In that context, today’s clash for the Ed Slater Cup represents a potential pivot point in the season, and Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington is only too aware his men face a Leicester side that has been reinforced and reinvigorated by a huge cohort of internationals who were in action deep into the knockout rounds of the Rugby World Cup.
Skivington said: “Leicester are now a different beast to what they have been previously this season, all their big names are back in and there are a lot of big names, a couple of World Cup winners and World Cup semi-finalists, so they are not a side to take lightly.”
Springbok world champions Handre Pollard and Jasper Wiese are both named in the starting line-up for the Tigers, having also starred in last week’s East Midlands derby win over Northampton Saints.
With England stars Ollie Chessum, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Freddie Steward also back in club colours, Skivington added: “We know Pollard and Youngs will manage the game really well and then you have the brute force of Wiese and (Hanro) Liebenberg.
“It is a heavyweight team coming to Kingsholm, but we just have to be ready for that and have our game plan in place and execute it for the full 80 minutes this week. It is going to be about being really physical.”
Gloucester come into the match having been seconds away from a famous victory away at Exeter last Sunday but let a nine-point lead with four minutes remaining slip.
Despite the result, which has left the Cherry & Whites focusing on their game management this week, Skivington singled out young fly-half George Barton for praise.
He said: “I thought George did really well managing that game. He pulled the trigger on a lot of plays at the right time and put the pressure back on Exeter at the right time and his kick selection was really good having spent a lot of time on that.
“His kick-off placement options were right and there was just a lot of good stuff. The way it finished was just a really harsh lesson for some young lads, there were some crunch moments that went against us.
“Exeter were always going to gamble and throw everything at it and you have to be ready for that.”
Skivington makes one enforced change in the pack for the visit of the Tigers, with Freddie Thomas replacing the injured Albert Tuisue.
Another Freddie, this time Clarke, is set to make his 150th appearance for the club alongside Matias Alemanno in the second row.
Stephen Varney replaces Micky Young in the singular change in the back line.