Glaws suffer Sarries setback

Gloucester's progress from also-rans to what coach Nigel Davies and everybody else at Kingsholm hopes will be a power in club rugby again was always going to suffer setbacks as well as enjoying a lot more good days than we have been used to in recent seasons, and one of them came at Watford on Saturday.

They beat Saracens two tries to one, but lost 28-23 because Charlie Hodgson returned after a four-week injury absence to kick 23 of the home points.

There were other factors, of course, like ill-discipline at crucial times, one or two questionable refereeing decisions and a lack of concentration when it mattered.

But there were positives in the performance, and nobody should be too downhearted.

Dan Murphy scored the first-half try for Glaws while Akapusi Qera crossed for another after the break, but replacement Richard Wigglesworth scored the try that gave Sarries the result.

"It could have gone either way at the end,” Davies told the BBC. “There were a couple of big calls that the referee had to make. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't.

"You wonder when the first two scrums (at the end of the match) weren't sufficient to merit a penalty try. On another occasion they would have been, I'm sure.

"On the third one, to be fair, they got the hit and it made it easy for the ref.

"I was pleased with the way my team stuck to their task. We ended up outscoring Saracens two tries to one which is no mean feat here.”

Glaws got a losing bonus point and go into the latest break from Premiership rugby looking a far better team than they did this time last year.

They now face back-to-back Amlin Cup games against London Irish, in Reading this weekend and at home a week later, two Saturday 3pm kick-offs … whatever next?