Bristol Shoguns v Gloucester Preview
By David Hibell
March 14 2003
A look at the Zurich Premiership table shows how Gloucesters fortunes have changed in recent seasons with them heading up the league. Their points total of 60 stands almost double Bristols and shows the size of the task facing Peter Thorburn's Bristol Shoguns side.
Yesterdays press conference announcing that the Shoguns team needs £1M will not help focus the players minds, but as Dean Ryan has stated the squad have been performing well despite the distractions that these circumstances offer. The visit of Gloucester should be all the motivation they need to concentrate on the sport rather than the politics & pull out a performance from the top draw.
The statistics show that Bristol have only triumphed over Gloucester once in the last six years, that was by 18-9 back in January 2001. Despite this most games have been finely balanced, either finishing with the teams only separated by a couple of points or with Gloucester pulling away in the last ten minutes.
Both coaches are keeping their cards close to their chest as both teams are still to be announced at this stage but Brendan Daniel will be pushing hard for a recall and Mark Cornwell will be hoping he makes his 100th league/play off appearance
The pack has long been a strength of Gloucester's for as long as I remember now and they must have a factory churning out props as they seem to be strong in that department every year, Trevor Woodman and Phil Vickery are both unavailable but their replacements are no slouches. Nigel Melville has continued the work started by PSA and Kingsholm has been seeing the backs running a few tries in recently with youngsters like Marcel Garvey combining well with old hands like Ludovic Mercier.
Dean Ryan has also been reported as saying that he was not aware this was his first return to the memorial ground, this could be down to one of three things, kidology, a sign that he is intensely focussed on his new role or proof that his commitment in his playing days has started to take its toll on the old grey matter! The Zurich preview of the match says that the Mem is the only ground to average over 50 points and five tries a match, keeping up that average will certainly help make sure it's a visit he remembers.
Now the statistics bit:
Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester Sun 16 Mar at Memorial Stadium - KO 15:00
Summary of meetings between the teams in the Premiership
Played 24
Bristol Shoguns Won 8 33.3%
Gloucester Won 15 62.5%
Drawn 1 4.2%
Biggest Win for Bristol Shoguns 24 - 6 26 Mar 1994
Biggest Win for Gloucester 51 - 17 10 Nov 2001
Bristol Shoguns top try scorer vs Gloucester Barry Williams 2 tries
Bristol Shoguns top points scorer vs Gloucester Mark Tainton 63 points
Gloucester top try scorer vs Bristol Shoguns Junior Paramore 4 tries
Gloucester top points scorer vs Bristol Shoguns Simon Mannix 64 points
Previous Meetings
Date Teams Result Venue
21 Sep 2002 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 18 - 45 Kingsholm
08 Jun 2002 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 23 - 28 Twickenham
21 Apr 2002 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 40 - 41 Memorial Stadium
10 Nov 2001 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 17 - 51 Kingsholm
06 Jan 2001 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 18 - 9 Memorial Stadium
30 Sep 2000 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 16 - 38 Kingsholm
22 Jan 2000 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 23 - 29 Kingsholm
04 Dec 1999 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 25 - 38 Memorial Stadium
18 Jan 1998 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 13 - 14 Memorial Stadium
23 Aug 1997 Bristol Shoguns vs Gloucester 13 - 35 Kingsholm
Gloucester have won six Premiership games in a row since their 15-20 slip-up at Welford Road on 15 November.
In case anyone wanted to know, I've checked and the last time Ryan played in this fixture was 30 Sept 2000 when he was replaced by Scott Morgan in the 75th minute.