Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play


Balsh try
By Cherry Picker
February 1 2009

With just over a third of the season to go, Gloucester are top of the Guinness Premiership table and showing distinct signs of heading somewhere towards their best form – not bad for a team which hasn’t played well for weeks and is struggling to cope with injuries and loss of form. No wonder coach Dean Ryan says he finds the situation amusing.

He can’t be begrudged his moment of pleasure after Glaws staged a stirring fightback at Kingsholm to beat London Irish 23-21, overtake them at the top of the table, and gain revenge for that away stuffing a few weeks ago.
Gloucester’s form has caused a lot of frayed nerves amongst the fans, and Ryan himself has probably lost a few nights sleep over his team’s apparent inconsistency, but nobody can argue with the facts - they are top of the table and are the team all the others need to beat.
Ryan told the BBC: "There has been a lot of stuff thrown around about us in the last month.
"We could have trotted excuses out, but you cannot hide from pressure. We are not playing our best rugby. But we are top of the league - which, in my quiet moments, I find quite amusing.
"Everyone has been screaming for us to play more, but it is about playing at the right times."
There’s no arguing with that and while some of Ryan’s tactical decisions, team choices and after-match comments have raised a few eyebrows, the ability of a coach is measured in one simple way – where his team finishes at the end of the season.
Barkley kick v L IrishGloucester’s poor results and poor performances have caused concern, but they have not allowed any of their rivals to leave them behind and the fact that they could beat a very good Irish side so well on Saturday suggests we may all have been panicking for no reason.
Certainly Saturday’s second half was a joy after Irish had looked so good in the first. They scored two tries to scare the life out of the crowd, but Olly Barkley’s kicking (right) kept Glaws in touch and Iain Balshaw’s well-constructed second-half try was a fitting match-winner.
And as a bonus, wasn’t it great to see the likes of Delve, Hazell and the unlucky Somerville back in action with a useful break from fixtures next weekend?
With the Six Nations starting as we go into the crucial last third of the season, perhaps losing out in the Heineken Cup wasn’t such a major disaster after all

Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: Shedloads (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 11:07

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Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: cheerycherry (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 11:34

Glaws need to kick on now. The last 30 of Saturday's game showed Glaws are still dangerous when they run the ball. The return of Somerville and Delve made a huge difference to the Glaws pack and Brown was superb up against Kennedy. Credit too to Barkley whose kicking under pressure kept the scoreboard ticking over and Glaws in the game.

Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: the real khm (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 14:11

Good move by DR to keep some of the big guns back until later in the game. It would have been foolhardy to have started Delve and Haze when both are returning from injury. When it was right to bring on Haze and Woody, our pack were able to move up several gears which meant we were able to fling the ball out amongst the backs. Excellent game plan!

Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: cheerycherry (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 15:21

Im not convinced it was a tactical masterstroke I think it was more the players thought that plan A was not working so they decided to go for it and it came off. Either way it is a good morale boosting win and with Injured players coming back it is looking brighter for Glaws. Hopefully from here on in there wont be a lot more injuries to come and Glaws can put somewhere near a settled side out.

Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: JJ_Glos (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 16:59

Dean Ryan picked the team and the bench. He decided when and who to substitute. All credit to him for his management of the team which brought us such a fantastic win.

If we had lost, the usual moaners wouldn't have hesitated in putting all the blame on the head coach.

Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: Two Sheds (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 17:05

Of course the head coach gets his share of the blame for defeats - it goes with the job at every club, surely.
But he also gets the deserved praise when they are winning and I doubt very much if DR would expect (or want) it to be any different.

Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: tykeman (IP Logged)
Date: 01/02/2009 22:42

You are fooling yourselves if you think this result was anything other than Irish letting off the hook big time .... Just an unbiased opinion... (Sm42)

Re: Top of the table - wait until we REALLY play
Posted by: Two Sheds (IP Logged)
Date: 02/02/2009 11:35

You're probably right tykeman, but at least Glaws had it in them to take advantage.

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