Westy considers our opening two games
TWO GAMES DOWN – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT SO FAR?
Well, I saw only the Leicester match live, but I’ve watched the B*rf match twice since coming home from work yesterday. And my conclusion? The euphoria of a first ever league win at the Wreck aside, Gloucester will have to work harder than ever to achieve their stated goal of a major trophy this season.
That was always going to be the case, though, wasn’t it? Yes, there is a section of the Kingsholm crowd who believe that every time Glaws walk on the pitch they will win by a hatful, get the bonus try, and restrict their opponents to a couple of penalties. Those of us who live in the real world, though, acknowledge that standards across the board have improved year on year, other clubs have invested well in their squads, and there are no longer any easy matches.
What contrasting games – and results – the first two games of the season were for the Cherry and Whites. We lost twice at home throughout the whole of last season – I suppose as both losses were to Leicester we should have realised that another disappointment was at the very least a possibility. Yet there was great optimism in the Shed – at least there was until the first couple of scrums and lines out had taken place. Leicester gained the upper hand at the set piece – the evidence shows that their advantage in the scrums was in large part due to their tight head prop cheating the Laws and the referee by boring into Andy Titterell at an angle. Such an angle in fact, that when I watched the replay on television I thought at one stage Julian White’s head would appear between Andy and Carlos. My suspicions at the time were confirmed when Oli Azam came on, and almost immediately let White (and the ref) know what he thought of Leicester’s scrummaging tactics.
The obvious things that hurt us against Leicester – their cheating in the set piece, two “certain” tries butchered, a loose pass near the end – weren’t in fact the full story. It has to be said that as the game progressed, Leicester learnt from their errors, learnt how the ref wanted the tackle area played, and learnt just how far they could push things with Mr Pearson. Unfortunately we did not learn any of these lessons, and so lost our unbeaten home record before it had even begun.
What a difference a week makes! From the kick off against B*rf it was obvious that we were prepared to be innovative, and were not going to allow ourselves to be ground down nor outmuscled. Olly Morgan’s scragging of the B*rf receiver into touch from the kick off and Willy Walker’s measured drop goal in the first minute set the tone, and although we failed to cross the try line in the first half we were well worth our lead. What happened next was surely unforgettable – two great tries which gave us an unassailable lead – or did they? I’m not sure whether B*rf woke up or whether we eased up – probably a bit of both if truth were known – but the last few minutes were nailbiting before we savoured our moment of triumph.
Momentous as the result at the Wreck was, after two games I’m sure the coaching team will be under no illusions as to the task ahead if we are to secure a top four place and move on from there to a win at Twickenham. If truth be told, Brad James had played a game too many, missed all of his kicks, and overall had a ’mare.
But our front five tightened up no end from the previous week, and two of our forwards were the major difference between last week and this. Oli Azam, my man of the match, added a solidity that had been missing against Leicester. And Oli’s line out throwing was pretty good, as it happens. A hooker must secure scrum ball first and foremost, and when Oli can be relied upon to find his jumper 4 times out of 5 and is his usual aggressive self in the loose, he is a force to be reckoned with. Andy Hazell, too, made a big difference. He secured much ball on the floor, and his work rate was at its usual high level. He deserved to be in a Glaws winning team at the Wreck – as of course did all of our boys. The look on their faces at the end – priceless. Job well done.
I’m quite pleased in a way that for once we’ve not shot off into a played two, points 10 lead at the top this season. The Leicester game provided a reality check, and proved to everyone how difficult it is going to be to win silverware this season. Perversely, Harlequins, top of the league at the time of writing, provide our opposition next weekend. It will be interesting to see whether the weight of being topdog affects them – and more importantly, whether the removal of the monkey from our back at the Wreck has provided an impetus for us to move forward.
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