Advice galore as Glaws face hectic eight days

There’s no shortage of advice for Gloucester as they try to pick themselves up after the latest of this season’s occasional setbacks by taking a trip to arguably the most difficult Premiership ground to visit when you are trying to rediscover your form. If coach Bryan Redpath took notice of all the advice he’s being offered, he would be a very confused man.

But of course he already knows what he feels is necessary if Glaws are to turn a sad and sorry defeat at Sale into a glorious day at Leicester.

The final whistle was still echoing round Edgeley Park after Glaws had managed 31 away points and also managed to lose against the third bottom club when he summed it up: “We need to be more streetwise.”

Presumably he means he felt the team showed a lack of professionalism at Sale, where any team from the top four that scores 31 points really should be expected to win, no matter how well Charlie Hodgson plays.

There are plenty more where Hodgson came from, waiting for the chance to shoot opponents down, and over the years Leicester have had lots of them in their ranks – it’s no different this season, even though they have already qualified for the play-offs.

They were muscled out of the Heineken cup last weekend in a game which has been described as a real toughie, so they will be in no mood to suffer another setback as they defend their lead at the top of the Premiership – they are three points ahead of Saracens and 11 ahead of third-top Glaws.

Tom Voyce says Glaws need to toughen up, Jonny May says the mistakes need to be cut, Will James says the players need to keep fighting and every fan will have their own version of the solution … it all boils down to the same thing. Glaws need to improve on the Sale game, otherwise they’ll be mauled by the Tigers.

This game marks the start of a massive eight days for the cherry and whites – Leicester away on Saturday, fourth-top Northampton at home next Tuesday, April 19, and Sarries away on Easter Sunday, April 24.

It’s hardly the run of games Redpath and his players would have asked for, but playing the other teams in the top four in just over a week will give us a real idea of how good – or how bad – Glaws really are and how much they want that top four finish.