Late tries earn Glaws bonus point win

Dean Ryan - smiling
By Cherry Picker
December 28 2008

Gloucester managed to put something like a smile on the face of coach Dean Ryan as three late tries gave them a bonus point win in the derby at Bristol. After the hammering at London Irish a week earlier, Glaws returned to something approaching form, but it was still far from a perfect performance and most people at Kingsholm will be hoping that 2009 is going to start better than 2008 has ended.

A win is a win, of course, and bonus points away from home are always welcome, especially against the old rivals from the Memorial Stadium.

But Gloucester took their time to hit bonus point form after Olly Morgan's great opening try put them in control, and it was only two tries from Mike Tindall (above) and one from Lesley Vainikolo in the last ten minutes that created the comfortable-looking 29-10 margin, though to be fair they had been applying pressure on Bristol for some time before the home team finally cracked.
Coach Ryan told the BBC: "I am pretty happy with where we are. If we can push on from here, then we have a good chance of being in the mix.
"We couldn't match London Irish's energy levels last week and we would have lost this game if our energy levels had been anywhere near to where they were last Saturday."
That is perfectly right, of course, because the performance against the Exiles was as poor as anything Glaws have shown for many a month.
Third top behind Barf and Irish, Glaws are in the mix now, but with teams like Leicester, Sale and one or two others not far behind and the second half of the season always a time when teams find new energy levels, there’s no room for relaxing.
If mid-table teams like Saracens can end the ten-game unbeaten run Irish were enjoying, anything can happens between now and the end of the season.And, would you believe it, it’s Saracens next as they start 2009 with a January 3 visit to Kingsholm.
Batten down the hatches.