Whilst the global rugby community gears itself up for the World Cup, a small part of England is focusing on club matters, as the three South-West teams face each other in the pre-season West Country Cup tournament.
Gloucester, Bath and Exeter Chiefs will face each other home and away in this round-robin competition that will run until the start of the Aviva Premiership season. For Gloucester home will be the Memorial Stadium in Bristol, because Kingsholm is unavailable due to hosting World Cup games during this period.
Exeter 41 Gloucester 38
The first match took place on Saturday at Sandy Park, where the hosts, Exeter Chiefs, named two separate teams to play each half against Gloucester. The visitors in contrast named a very inexperienced side that lacked all their big name stars. This mismatch was initially evident as the home team raced into the lead with a try from last season’s top scorer Thomas Waldrom. A half time score of 21-5 meant Gloucester always had to chase the game, but after the brand new Exeter XV passed the 40 mark in the second half, the visitors demonstrated their mental strength by scoring three tries in the final ten minutes to narrow the scoreline significantly. This was made even more impressive in light of goalkicker Billy Burns’ early injury that left the kicking duties to wing Steve McColl. Six tries in the end for the Cherry and Whites left Exeter Head Coach Rob Baxter disappointed at his team’s defence and concentration for allowing a much tighter scoreline than the rest of the game may have suggested.
Gloucester vs Bath
Gloucester will hope to take their attacking form into a clash with arch-rivals Bath on Sunday. There is sure to be a decent amount of Cherry and White supporters in Bristol, who will be looking forward to seeing a few more first-teamers get their first run-outs ahead of the upcoming season. The team announcement sees big names such as Billy Twelvetrees, Richard Hibbard and James Hook all in the starting line-up, all with something to prove having been discarded by their respective countries. At the same time it is a chance to see the squad members who may have a key role to play in the opening weeks of the Premiership season dependent on World Cup involvement. For example Henry Purdy, who scored an excellent individual try against Exeter, is likely to be a first choice wing in place of Johnny May, or Callum Braley who will compete against Willi Heinz for Greig Laidlaw’s number nine shirt.
For the visitors this is the first of three consecutive games in the West Country Cup, with the reverse fixture against Gloucester at The Rec in two weeks’ time. Bath have more internationals missing during the World Cup, with stars like Jonathan Joseph and George Ford lining up for England. It will therefore be a chance for them to test their strength in depth, particularly in the backline where the likes of Ollie Devoto and Tom Homer can stake their claim for a starting spot.
A second defeat for Gloucester would not be the end of the world but it is always better to be going into a season with confidence-boosting victories, which would be all the more sweeter against the old enemies from Bath.
Main Photo
