Glaws fight back to go fourth
Monahan break
By Cherry Picker
October 7 2012
Beating Bath is always satisfying, rarely easy and never without its talking points, and Gloucester will take just as much from their latest win over the old enemy as they always do.
To win 16-10 with a second-half fightback that earned them fourth place in the Premiership table will go a long way towards making the fans happy.
But while coach Nigel Davies was happy with the result, the performance didn’t exactly have him jumping for joy.
Stephen Donald threatened to win it by himself when he stunned Kingsholm with a try after 32 second that he converted himself, then added a penalty as Bath started so well.
But two Freddie Burns penalties kept Glaws in touch at the break, and when Rob Cook scored a try in the corner that needed TMO approval, Burns converted and added a drop goal for the win.
But perhaps the most critical time of the game was half-time, when Davies delivered probably the simplest team talk he has had all season.
"We had no control of the first half. We were on the back foot almost everywhere,” he told the BBC
“Until now I have been pretty composed with the team, but this was pretty direct. We weren’t performing and people have got to know about it..
"It was important to sort things out. It was certainly a game of two halves and we managed to bring width and continuity in the second period.
"Perhaps we were a bit complacent in the build-up this week, but it was pretty easy at half-time because we had been so far off the game. We knew what we had to do.
"We showed the resilience and composure which is a hallmark of this team.
“We are in the top four after the first phase of the Premiership, but not playing as well as we’d like to.”
Glaws are only three points behind leaders Northampton, whose defeat at the hands of third-bottom London Irish showed this weekend that while most results are predictable, anything can happen.
Glaws take a two week break for Amlin Cup action now, travelling to Mont de Marson next Thursday and at home to Bordeaux a week later, then October ends with a bang as Leicester visit Kingsholm in the Premiership.