Back to the drawing board for beaten Glaws

So as we understand it, Gloucester need to earn maximum points against the 2006 runners-up Biarritz in France next weekend and hope other results go their way if they are to sneak into the Heineken cup quarter-finals by the back door as one of the best runners-up. On their latest showing, they don’t deserve it.

Playing against 14 men for most of the game, they came up short at Kingsholm and, basically, were not good enough to prevent Cardiff Blues from confirming their favouritism for the knock-out stages, despite odd flashes from the like of Iain Balshaw (right).
Olly Barkley’s four penalties were all Glaws could muster in a game that underlined the fears many fans have for the team’s current form.
They are not good enough to go any further in the Heineken Cup, and they are not good enough on a consistent level to do anything in the Guinness Premiership play-offs, even if they do manage to make the top four when the season ends.
The current team, even allowing for bad luck with injuries, is not as good as last season’s team.
Glaws coach Dean Ryan was at least honest about the performance and did not try to make excuses for the defeat. He admitted: "It wasn't good enough. We are coming second in these head-to-head contests at the highest level.
"It has got to change. We can't keep getting found out. We came clearly second, and we haven't made enough progress to compete at this level.
"At this high level of Heineken Cup rugby, it is based on physicality and discipline and we've repeatedly come second in those areas."
Cardiff had wing Tom Jones sent off midway through the first half for what appeared to be a head butt on Olivier Azam. Ref Lewis didn’t really have a lot of choice but to show the red card, though Cardiff  coach Dai Young said: "It was a silly thing for Tom to do. It was more a defensive gesture than an aggressive one.
"Azam went for the Hollywood, which is something we want to take out of the game.
"When I was playing, you didn't see hookers going down as quickly as that. We don't want to see players out there looking like soccer players."
There are two sides to every argument, of course, but whatever the story behind the red card, there’s no hiding from the fact that Glaws weren’t good enough to take advantage of it.
Back to the drawing board.