Glaws pay penalty for slack discipline

Gloucester might have lost, but coach Dean Ryan was pleased with his team’s overall display as they went down 24-10 at Leicester. In front of a packed house of just under 18,000, it was a classic English club game, with Leicester’s kicking getting the better of occasional lapses in discipline by Glaws.

Referee Wayne Barnes has, of course, been involved in controversy before. But nobody can blame his decision-making for this result – Glaws were caught bending the rules and French scrum-half Julien Dupuy made them pay with seven penalties added to a drop goal from  Geordan Murphy.
Rory Lawson and Alex Brown were both sin-binned, ands the fact that Glaws scored the game’s only try through Iain Balshaw is no consolation – Tigers had two disallowed by Barnes.
Glaws defended well all game, their tackjling a feature of the game, but they didn’t do a lot of attacking – mainly because they werenlt able to get the sort of possession they needed.Ryan told the BBC:"This side is growing into a very strong and determined one in defence and with some physical capability. "We are a bit down on strike-power but two young lads, Charlie Sharples and Henry Trinder (right), covered themselves in credit in what was the top-level clash during the Six Nations.
"Results don't always go in your favour, the yellow cards compounded the problem for us. But in the circumstances, I'm really pleased with how this side is showing itself when it gets the chances.
"We will play better than that, we will get a bit more rub of the green, but we have got to turn up like that every week and we have done for the last five weeks."
Now it’s the NEXT five weeks that really count as Glaws – starting next weekend at home to Wasps.
Defeat at Welford Road isn’t the end of the world, and Glaws still have a four-point lead over the three clubs behind them. But it’s very tight at the top as six clubs vie for the top four spot and the run-in to the season is going to be a real test of the Glaws character and strength in depth.