Gloucester travel to France looking for miracles

It’s Heineken Cup make-or-break time for Gloucester as they travel to France hoping for a miracle when they play Biarritz on Friday night. In fact, after last weekend’s home slump against Cardiff Blues, Glaws don’t just need a miracle in France, they need a few more in other games. And they also need to win back some of their lost pride.

They only have an outside chance of qualifying for the next stage of the competition as one of the top runners-up, and beating Biarritz is only the first requirement.
The French side have nothing to gain and nothing to lose, as they are already out of the competition, but Glaws coach Dean Ryan says that makes them more dangerous opposition than they would have been if they had something at stake.
He told the Citizen: “A side playing without real fear and a side of that quality can become extremely dangerous at home.
 “We can only go out and try to win the game. If we’re winning the game, well we may have some decisions to see if we can get a bonus point.
“It’s suicidal to think we can go to Biarritz and try and get a bonus point without laying a platform first.
“If we felt flying out of the blocks gave us five points every game, we would.
“We’ve got to build into the game, we’ve got to make sure we hold high field position and we’ve got to take our opportunities when they come along.”
That’s something they failed to do against Cardiff and while the Biarritz game offers an outside chance of qualifying, perhaps it offers an even more important opportunity – to win back some pride and self-respect after the Blues disappointment at Kingsholm last weekend.
Glaws fell short of the standards the club and its fans expect in that game and while the season has a way to go and there’s time for them to redeem themselves in the Guinness Premiership, current form and current results suggest Gloucester are no better than also-rans.