Third time lucky as Glaws reach another final?

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again goes the old saying, and Gloucester are sticking to their part of the script by making it to another Anglo-Welsh cup final, hoping that it will be third time lucky after the heartbreak of those defeats against Cardiff and Northampton.

They’ll certainly start favourites against Premiership strugglers Newcastle when they clash in the final on Sunday after brushing Newport gent Dragons aside in a semi-final; that was more one-sided than the 45-17 Kingsholm scoreline suggests.
What a pity the game is being played at Northampton, which is hardly just up the road for either of the finalists and not much of a draw for Saints fans who live nearby.
Hands up all those who believe that even the toss of a coin to decide the venue once the finalists have been decided would be better?
Staging cup finals is not exactly easy in modern rugby, of course, but Gloucester v Newcastle at Northampton is hardly ideal is it?
One thing not in doubt, though is the fact that Glaws deserve to be there after scoring seven tries in the demolition of the dragons. Charlie Sharples scored four of them in the second half after a half-time roasting from Bryan Redpath, who felt his team hadn’t performed well despite a match-winning half-time lead.
The fact that they allowed dragons to score three tries of their own in the second half is hardly a ringing endorsement of the way the cherry and whites played, either, but let’s not be too picky.
They won, they won easily, they have won ten on the trot and they are a totally different team to the one that lost at Newport back in November.
Hopefully next weekend they’ll also be totally different to the team that flopped 12-6 at Newcastle in the same month.
The LV= is hardly rugby’s mot coveted crown, but silverware is silverware and winning it is good for the bank balance as well as for morale and team spirit. And after those two previous flops in the same competition, the fans deserve something as well – specially those who make it to the game.
Before Sharples’s second-half fireworks, Glaws had taken a 17-0 half-time lead thanks to tries from Andy Hazell, Eliota Fuimaona-Sapolu, and Nicky Robinson, who also converted five of the second tries. Newport’s three scores put a false slant on the result.
But it was another good day at Kingsholm – let’s hope we can have a good day at Franklin’s Gardens next Sunday to win a trophy that could well set us up for a grandstand finish to the season.