Gloucester lock backing his new boss
ED Slater says Gloucester’s players have to start from scratch and prove themselves to new head coach George Skivington, writes Mark Halliwell.
The 31-year-old lock was a team-mate of Skivington at Leicester Tigers from 2010-2012 and tweeted his approval of the new man’s appointment.
“I was fortunate to work with George in the early part of my professional career,” said Slater. “I was very young and very naive coming into the Leicester set up and George was an experienced pro. I was desperate to be in the position he was in, to be a senior pro with a lot of experience and I was there to learn a lot and George was very open and honest.
“One of my first experiences was when I came off the bench against Exeter and I was mad for it and wanted to prove that I could play at that level and I gave away some stupid penalty and I remember George blasting me for it. Afterwards it was ‘listen, if you are going to come off the bench, the game is very tight there are certain things you can and can’t do and you need to be able to contain your temper’.
“That’s just a small example and he was always very open and honest with me good and bad and happy to share information.”
Slater said Johan Ackermann’s departure was a surprise.
“We’d all been in our own houses for a few weeks beforehand so we were kind of detached from everything that is going on,” he said. “It was a surprise to hear that Johan was moving on and it left a bit of uncertainty and there was nothing we could do about that. We weren’t training as a group and we were unsure about what direction it was going in. But we’re in a great position now that George has come in and we are starting from scratch and it’s up to us to prove ourselves as players and try to leave an impression.
“We were spoken to to ask an opinion about the new man but no more than that. Alex Brown and Lance Bradley were working extremely hard to get the work done and we had some small conversations around that but ultimately it fell into their hands to make the decision.”
Skivington is keen to bolster the Gloucester pack - and Slater is excited at the prospect.
Slater said: “You have to have dominance up front and teams winning competitions or being in that top four have dominated that set piece. We were too inconsistent as a forward pack and didn’t make the most of the talent we have in the squad, especially in that back line. You have to provide them with front foot ball and we didn’t do that enough this season and that’s why we suffered. As a forward I know we have to improve and George has that experience to come in and make us a consistent force.”