We may be only five games into Gloucester’s season, but their 15-3 defeat to Northampton at a wet and windy Franklins Gardens on Friday night gives reason for concern. A second consecutive league game where the Cherry and Whites have scored only three points, already the third game without a try and the lowest tries scored in the Premiership are not signs of a side on the up.
The most worrying part of Friday’s match was the tactics. The conditions were not set up for running rugby but there was a heavy reliance on kicking which does not play to Gloucester’s strengths. This wasn’t just in this match either; we have already seen enough Willi Heinz box-kicks to last a lifetime and enough cross-field kicks from Billy Twelvetrees to know they are not effective. This sort of approach requires a strong chase game, primarily from the wingers and top class half backs to execute the kicks in the first place. In Charlie Sharples and Jonny May Gloucester have two of the quickest players in the league but they are most effective with ball in hand, as Sharples showed with his try against La Rochelle. For May in particular, he is not the biggest player and so is not suited to physical high-ball battles. What’s more with the apparent indecision over who should play at fly-half, and most of the other back positions at the moment, this is not a combination for success.
In my last article I said that a competitive performance against Northampton was a must and the brutal truth is that we didn’t see that. The Gloucester scrum was dominated by the Saints’ pack to such an extent that loosehead Paddy McAllister had to be replaced after 20 minutes because a yellow card was imminent, and the match was reduced to uncontested scrums by the end as Yann Thomas was also sinbinned. In addition the constant kicking tactics meant Gloucester had little meaningful possession and rarely threatened to build any pressure in the Northampton 22.
All of this makes the match against Sale Sharks on Friday at Kingsholm a must-win. It is also the time to put players in their best position and stick with it to get some consistency. James Hook has played three different positions in the last four games and Twelvetrees has yet to start at his normal inside centre position. Towards the end of last season it seemed as though the coaching team were starting to mould the team into an effective unit and rebuilding the forwards. Having seen in the past two games both of these aspects cast into doubt it is reasonable to question the direction of Gloucester’s season.
This may all sound a bit negative so early into the season but Gloucester supporters were prepared to overlook last season with the promise of the rewards from this season and beyond. It is now time for the coaches and players to deliver, starting on Friday.
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