Seasons ends with a win - but positives are rare for Glaws
Q - first try
By Cherry Picker
May 9 2010
At the end of a season littered with bad starts, Gloucester managed to turn things upside down by producing a match-winning opening at Worcester, and then doing everything but actually throw the game away in a bad finish. Bryan Redpath’s job is shaping a winning squad is clearly still a work in progress and more needs to be done if 2010-11 is to be better than the last two seasons have been.
Winning by a single point against the bottom club, and playing badly on the way, is not the ideal way to set things up for next season.
Three tries put Glaws in easy street as Akapusi Qera, Lesley Vainikolo and Scott Lawson all crossed the line.
But perhaps it looked TOO easy and they appeared to take their foot off the gas, allowing Wuss tries from Chris Pennell, Alex Grove and Chris Latham to narrow the gap.
How painful would it have been if hom replacement Willie Walker’s late drop goal had gone over instead of hitting the post against his former club?
Answer: very.
Redpath told the BBC: "That was our worst performance since October, some of our basics and execution was dreadful.
"Eleven months and one week ago we started pre-season so it's been a long old year for everyone involved, so it's important that we get away.
"You have to respect Worcester and their fans. It's not easy to go down and I'm sure they'll be back next season. As a Gloucester player or supporter, we'd appreciate the derby game."
Well, it’s been a long season for all clubs and players, Bryan, and for some it goes on – they have managed to finish high enough to get into the play-offs.
Gloucester have finished seventh, 13 points behind the top four, and after we’ve spent all season saying that last term’s sixth place wasn’t good enough, neither we nor anybody else should be satisfied with that.
Basically, we have had two poor seasons in which the sort of inconsistency that featured the Worcester game has prevented progress from being made.
Redpath has had time to bed himself into the job and the players are not strangers – surely we can expect better next season?
Can't we?