Euro romp prompts Redpath to set his target

Tries galore in a 60-7 victory over Agen in the European Challenge Cup earned nothing concrete for Gloucester as they dropped out of the competition as punishment for previous failures, but the form shown by his team in a game many thought didn’t matter had coach Bryan Redpath turning his attention to far bigger prizes.

The game DID matter to Redpath, and the players showed it mattered to them as well as eight tries tore Agen apart.
Redpath, who has just signed a one-year extension to his Kinsgholm contract, told the Citizen:“I’ve been in the Premiership for ten, 11 years now, and I want to win an out-and-out Premiership title.
“I don’t see jumping and moving to other places as a route to doing that, and I think we’ve got a great setup here.
“There’d be no quick fix in moving somewhere else and starting again, and in any case we’re working hard in starting to build something.
“It won’t happen overnight here though, but I hope I get that chance to push it through, develop the players and myself.
“It’s my job to make sure the best players stay here, I want to coach them, I want to stay here. But first and foremost we’ll get the boys done and dusted, and then my challenge is to make sure that we perform to make my case stronger for staying, and be offered something.”
His title ambitions should go down well with club and fans, of course, but when he says he wants to win the Premiership our guess is that he means next season – and the club will probably expect him to do that.
He is in his second season as coach now and having settled in last term, it’s clear he and his squad ARE making progress. Whether that progress is going fast enough to win the title is open to question, but the sort of form shown on Thursday night will do them no harm as James Simpson-Daniel’s class shone through the fog in an eight-try walkover.
Redpath told the BBC: “The first 40 minutes I was especially happy with - I thought their execution, their intensity, their defensive discipline, their willingness to go out and win this game from the start was outstanding.
“At 41-0 at half time it was going to be a tough second half and there were a couple of little mistakes in there - these things happen, but the first 40 minutes I was delighted."
Back row  Brett deacon is out for seven more weeks after ankle surgery, but lock Jim Hamilton is fit and back in full training.
After their Euro exit, Glaws have two weekends of LV= Cup action ahead of them now – away to Leeds next Sunday and at home to London Irish the following Saturday.
Thursday’s form should be enough to win them both.