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Gloucester Rugby:

15. James Hook;
14. Charlie Sharples,
13. Matt Scott,
12. Mark Atkinson,
11. Henry Purdy;
10. Billy Burns,
9. Willi Heinz (capt);

1. Paddy McAllister,
2. Richard Hibbard,
3. John Afoa;
4. Tom Savage,
5. Mariano Galarza;
6. Lewis Ludlow,
7. Jacob Rowan,
8. Ben Morgan

Replacements:

16. Motu Matu'u, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Josh Hohneck, 19. Joe Latta, 20. Matt Kvesic, 21. Callum Braley, 22. Mat Protheroe, 23. Ollie Thorley

Unavailable for selection:

Darren Dawidiuk, Tom Denton, David Halaifonua, Sione Kalamafoni, Greig Laidlaw, Tom Lindsay, Tom Marshall, Jonny May, Ross Moriarty, Andy Symons, Jeremy Thrush, Henry Trinder, Billy Twelvetrees

Kvesic on the bench is big for us. Last year he made the breakdown hell for us and 36 blitzed the midfield so we couldn't go out the back. Expecting a different result this year. I think it will be 15-20pts but would take 1!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016:11:18:12:17:34 by simplytandy.

Wow Gaskell at 6.
Trains like a Lock.
Built like a Lock.
What must Dai be thinking..???
🤔

Gaskell played a lot at 8 for Sale.

A very strong match day 23, considering it's the AIs and those injured.

#COYW

Quote:

Heathen
Gaskell played a lot at 8 for Sale.
A very strong match day 23, considering it's the AIs and those injured.

#COYW

It's just ptaw having a pop that Gaskell is at 6, rather than actually questioning it, I'm sure he's feeling rather smug. I'd have rather have seen Reider there, but I've not seen how well Rowlands has been going. I'm surprised he didn't raise the fact that Johnson is on the bench too for backrow. That I can understand more though, last 20 minutes he can keep his workrate up and be more effective in the breakdown, I don't think he really has the lungs for backrow to start for us these days and the way we're playing, emergencies sure, but his workrate when he started at 6 against Toulouse was poor in my mind, not much ruckwork.

Glad to see that Marty Moore is back in the saddle. I was very worried at the time about his injury.

“This machine kills fascists�
Woody Guthrie's guitar.

What a ridiculous team to be able to put out with the injury/international duty list. Looking forward to seeing Kyle start at 13 (don't think he has yet has he?).

Quote:

brandnewtorugby
What a ridiculous team to be able to put out with the injury/international duty list. Looking forward to seeing Kyle start at 13 (don't think he has yet has he?).

Think he worked his way in from the wings for Bath, but I'm not too excited myself, in attack great, but 13 is tough to defend in terms of reading play, and I don't know if he's there yet.

Interesting that Cruise is, in effect, preferred to Reidrr on the bench. Is this because Cruise would be more effective in the loose than Reidr or that he would be better in the tight than Johnson?

If both fit I would of had Rieder and his ball carrying over Gaskell and his line out specialties.

Is Hibbard not one of the top two Hookers in Wales anymore?

Quote:

coddy
Is Hibbard not one of the top two Hookers in Wales anymore?

The pint is that he is not playing in Wales.

Cruse has shown to be very good, I think he's basically forcing Dai into considering him 2nd choice, which puts Johnson even further back in the pecking order (could be wrong). Getting Johnson on the pitch for the final 20 minutes is important for us though, his power and pace (and handling) has done us a lot of good in the final 20 minutes very often.

Hibbard is looking decent enough for Glaws, but he's no longer the beast he was.

Real shame Simon McIntyre is out for so long, thought he was really improving and it wouldn't be long before an England call up

Well the most important news about the game is I will be there!!!

Sitting in amongst the long time stalwarts of the main stand in a Season Ticket seat with a lovely old lady right behind me who has (I believe) been going there and supporting Glos for 50+ years ; and she knows her rugby!!! (Her late husband had supported them for even longer...)

Quote:

Raggs
Think he worked his way in from the wings for Bath, but I'm not too excited myself, in attack great, but 13 is tough to defend in terms of reading play, and I don't know if he's there yet.

That surprises me, my impression has been he is strong in defence. What makes 13 harder, is it that you tend to face faster creative backs more from there?

Quote:

brandnewtorugby

Quote:

Raggs
Think he worked his way in from the wings for Bath, but I'm not too excited myself, in attack great, but 13 is tough to defend in terms of reading play, and I don't know if he's there yet.

That surprises me, my impression has been he is strong in defence. What makes 13 harder, is it that you tend to face faster creative backs more from there?

He's physical, but 13 needs to be one of the best readers of the game in my mind, with regards to defence. There's always a lot of space, he needs to decide if he's going to rush up (and communicate it), or drift etc. Also has to be good at tackling, a missed tackle in the 10/12 channel will often have a few other players around to recover from it, a missed tackle in the 13 channel will lead to a serious break.

Coming from league, even with his time in Union, I wonder if his reading of the game is that great. I have no doubt he'll do at least a decent job, but if I was Glaws and looking for weaknesses, the channel between Eastmond and Wade/Bassett would be where I'd look. Try to get one to rush forwards and the other not to etc, creating doglegs and space.

Since Daly was announced to start at 13 last week I've read a couple of articles on how important a 13 is to defensive structure. I'm certainly no expert but I gather that he or she dictates the defensive line.

So in this situation you would perhaps look to overload the midfield with runners and decoys to sew doubt in his mind. Our centre partnership is perhaps an area of potential weakness. Neither are in their natural position.

I am a little concerned about our front row for first half since Glos have sone big units who will tire quickly but start strong. I believe our bench will make a difference and think that Jo Simpson and Ash will find big holes at 60 mins when they come on. Much as i like Rieder, unlike some other views i think we need Gaskells work rate and strength with rest of back row very mobile.
Time of kick off and internationals before will make for beer fueled atmosphere down there so we will have to be good to win.

I expect Glaws to start off like a rocket, and I won't be surprised if we're a couple of scores down by halftime. The one bright spot in that, is that they've been uniformly atrocious in the 2nd 40 at defending any sort of lead, and I expect us to really open them up as they tire. It just a matter of weathering the early storm and staying as close as we can. Losing Moriarty to Wales helps us as well, Morgan isn't a patch on him any more so we may get some joy off the back of the scrum if we can pressure them there. Jamma is probably at 6 to get out of the pack fast and get at that first receiver. I think we should win it, we should have last year, think a BP is going to be too much of an ask though.

I've always felt that 13 has become the defensive leader in the last 10-15 years.

Before that, fly halves weren't expected to tackle anything and therefore you needed the 12 to protect them and his own channel.

Since Jonny showed that 10's should tackle too, teams have focused more on defending the outside channels and therefore the defence is often lead from 13 now

Quote:

StevieWasp
I've always felt that 13 has become the defensive leader in the last 10-15 years.
Before that, fly halves weren't expected to tackle anything and therefore you needed the 12 to protect them and his own channel.

Since Jonny showed that 10's should tackle too, teams have focused more on defending the outside channels and therefore the defence is often lead from 13 now

You're right most do, however it depends on if the defence call is blitz or drift. 13 should lead the blitz, insides backs(players the drift. If you have numbers in defence blitz if not drift - sounds simple but needs good communication channels and decision making.

[robsbl0g.blogspot.co.uk]
@robsmithrugby

Good to see a lot of the wounded are returning next month. Can't wait for Xmas eve Bath game. Am travelling up and staying for Xmas with folks in Derby

Quote:

kentwasp1
Good to see a lot of the wounded are returning next month. Can't wait for Xmas eve Bath game. Am travelling up and staying for Xmas with folks in Derby

Hask will be massively motivated, Beale hopefully will be too, and with Le Roux coming, I'm hoping we'll get a bit of a revival (if we need it).

Anyone out there? Y2's just gone over for a try, 3-5, conversion to come.

good match so far. 1st try. 1ST for young junior this season. Basset has upped his game so much. Wade strangely awol - can't we get him into the attack more?

Bemused and narked. Why are we playing "fish and chips" rugby - al la Eddie Jones - and not attacking? Playing totally into the Shedmen game. Why pick Wade et co if we don't attack?

I don't know about "fish and chips" rugby but this is giving me indigestion. I suspect a half-time word or two.

Basset playing well. Obviously quick but very powerful also.

Thought we were harshly done by with the penalty for our attacking maul after the mess that was Gloucesters a few minutes earlier

Oh, Rob Miller!

Miller just showed how we need to play. ATTACK

Stupid decision hurting us. Organisation needs sorting, haven't seen Robson look this slow from the base in a while. Half time chat should sort it.

Main tactics seem to be Robson box kicks. No positive running and possession. Either Dai off plan or roasting at HT. Awful rugby by Wasps and not using any of our strength

Glaws turning this into an arm-wrestle. When we moved the ball, early in the half, we looked threatening. Not much since.

Have we not learned not to be bullied . Top 4 team now. But still like this game let the Oppo dictate. where's the power and attacking game before LV break? Why pick Wade if the game plan is to no longer get the ball to him in space? Why are Glaws dictating the match? Dai obviously has a masterplan for second half but god I hope it works. Just 2 or 3 attacks in depth will take the game away from Glaws.

Much more positive start to the second half

Richards you are a joke! Gloucester offside from the kick off and then penalises us for offside?? Only fair that Hook missed.

FFS!

how many times . Cips . Love him or loath him, he separates opinion. How many charge downs Cips? Why you never learn. F////ck waste of a good team and he needs Josh to punch the s//it out of him

Grrr
Outmuscled by Glos and game looks beyond us now.

B%?£@*s.

Not quite falling apart but not exactly up to par.

Absolute shocker of a decision to give a penalty in the lead up to that, but after that defence was awful. Front up boys, need a huge last 20

David Rose strikes again. Immediate????

Do you have a policy of not giving score updates on this site?

24-11 glos

Credit Glaws defence.

For our so far top 4 status - big step but on this game, we can't dictate as Sarries do. But so sad to see Wade and Wasps strategy to him almost zero

Christian is over-running the ball almost every time it comes right and flinging passes around like his life depends on it.

Like a Glaswegian Mars bar - battered.

embarrassing performance, lack of decision, lack of precision, lack of quality and lack of organisation.

Really hope this is a one off because it wasn't good enough. Without our big stars, we looked toothless at times.

Quote:

JF
Not quite falling apart but not exactly up to par.

You said?

Was Danny out clubbing last night?

The amount of times Johnson would take a pass from a standing start from the ruck and get knocked back. What is the point? No penetration in the midfield. I'm a big Eastmond fan but you can't have him and Gooperth together on todays performance.
I'm sure this is a blip and we'll be out with a point to prove next week.

Sad, humiliating, poor. Not just me as the wife says but my adored team Wasps this afternoon took a huge step backwards. Why no attack? No energy. No brain cells to pre-empt predictable Glaws heavy metal attack?? f////CKING mad

Glad I took advantage of Bet365's generous odds.. was preparing to cash out at the end but went unavailable as I was about to press the button...

What the he'll happen there?

I appreciate we are going to have bad days but getting stuffed by a 'ok' Gloucester team is not what I expected.

Sounds like we didn't prepare well enough for this game.

Very disappointed

That was a shocking performance. On a weekend of international rugby did any of those left behind do anything other than confirm the decision to do so was the right one?

I can understand the disappointment, unfortunately we have had too many good days recently and some days it just doesn't happen.

We butchered a chance in the first half when Millar broke free, went for two line outs in the corner rather than two kickable penalties.

took the lead in 2nd half with some good rugby and then shot ourselves in the foot twice....

at 24-11 though we could still win, Guy held up over the line, eventually we scored and 10 minutes to go could actually of won the game. Turnover from illegal tackle on Wade was costly and the last try came from chasing a bonus point.

difficult to take but not going to be quite so downhearted as some.

The league is such that anyone can beat anyone....

Today was gloucester's day, didn't play a lot of Rugby but in crucial areas and phases of the game were just better than us.

Not a Doctor and not a troll!!

So a quiet night, and little to watch on the tele, decided to finally get round to watching this again. A few scribbles from me:

4m Pnealty to glaws, Gaskell overruns the breakdown for the 2nd time, first time we got away with it, second time Rowan comes in and takes an easy turnover.

10.30ish Our first try was well worked, played for territory by Cips, then with the lineout just outside their 22 Robson puts in a great kick which they have to take out. Maul, score.

15.35 Why did Glaws get a pen? Ref clearly states that Glaws own player collapsed it, Myall then gets himself in the way as he should on a maul, then gets pinged? If it's for collapsing that's an awful call. If not rolling away, then it was a maul that went down fairly, and if it had become a ruck, why didn't he warn him? This pen eventually leads (after a lineout, scrum, lineout) to a glaws trr. Second shove from Glaws was very good in their scoring maul, rolled it one way, then quickly the other.

24mish - sloppy lineout maul from us, leads to obstruction, we were on their 5m too. Not sure if it was Gaskell or Mullan. Mullan got in front of Symons, but it was bloody close to when he'd already been hit, Gaskell came right around, but didn't seem to have much to do with blocking anyone (was a long way in front of the ball carrier though).

26.52m Millers break. I think he made the wrong choice, Myall had no one directly in front, but a lot of glaws players close, and no support. To Millers left there was 3 defenders, but also Wasps players. I think we'd have ben better off going left and recycling quicker, or even working an overlap with swift passes.

30.40m Our maul goes down, says Thompson (who is on the gorund at the edge) brought it down, but seems to miss the glaws player lying in the middle of it. I'm @#$%& about the decisions that go against us, but there's been one or two that have gone our way too.

First half has been frustrating. We've got ourselves in good positions only to screw up the maul, or make a poor decision or a great tackle from Heinz to grab Wade, and another actually causing Wade to knock on. Been watching Gaskell and I don't feel he's been offering enough in securing our ball and carrying. Young and Thompson seem to be doing most the carrying. Robson, Cips, Miller and Bassett looking decent (Miller very good). As odd as it may sound, I think we're missing Eastmonds physicality at 12.

48m How is Morgan allowed to get back up and pick up the ball. A ruck was formed, therefore an offside line was formed. Even if the ruck then goes past the ball, Morgan surely has to still come from an onside position40m

50m. Gaskell goes off. Not that impressed really. I know it'll seem sour grapes as such, but I just don't think he did enough backrow work. I could see him potentially getting away with playing 8, but his carrying will need to be stronger than it was.

51m. Taylor wins a penalty. Wouldn't necessarily highlight this, but it's just something significant in what has been a very good game for him in my mind. Acting like a backrower with his breakdown work, and offering himself on the carries.


We weren't offering Robson many options on slower ball. Normally we have options coming at pace to carry into the defence, this time it was all static.

57.18. Cips kicks it into Robson. OK, Screw up, fine. But why do Robson (maybe his bell has been rung), Mullan, Moore, Thompson. Gopperth all stand and watch? Taylor puts in a great effort to charge back. The ball bounces up when Cips arrives, diving down on it could have easily seen him lose control or the ball just go over him. It's a bad miss, but I don't feel quite so annoyed that he didn't just dive on it.

59.40m. Not sure how Myall can be decided to be in from the side there. The only way he could be more through the gate would have been to walk on top of the glaws player.

61m Glaws 3rd try, poor defence from us, we didn't have the guards in at the ruck. Good attacking play by glaws, and our midfield looked soft again. Again, I think Eastmond, despite his size, may have been able to make his physicality count there. After the restart, Miller once again is finding space and getting us on the front foot, really good game from him I feel. We have a few phases of attack, but repeatedly almost cause obstructions, and to avoid it, break stride and kill our pace on the ball.

61.21 Great defence from Heinz to stop our attack, Taylor hugely influential in that almost try. Thompson has been a hard worker too.

66.20. Glaws win a pen on our scrum, felt like Hibbard had popped up long before any other problems in the scrum so seems harsh to do wasps for a collapse (once the hooker is no longer in the front row, surely stability goes out the window

71.55m Gopperth makes 0m for the umpteenth time when trying to carrying it up. I think he's starting to be found out a little. He's a great distributing option, and has worked well further out on the wings, but without Daly, and with Eastmond out of position, we just don't seem to have any penetration in the midfield, and give up yards in defence. I don't think Gopperth has played badly as such (and definitely not Eastmond), but I do think it's clear that we're not seeing their best, and that's likely due to position. Eastmond + Leiua please for Sale.

74.53 Kvesic grabs the shirt, not the collar, so that's fine for me. He does however grab it before Wade takes the ball... However why was no one on their way back? We'd been turned 7 seconds before the kick, and no one was dropping back to a huge open space in behind (except for the one injured player). Cips seemed to be yelling at someone to get back, but it was too late. Miller at fault for me there, seeing as he's the fullback, should have been going back from the instant the turnover happened, at least when the runner was tackled.

Last try could have happened to us at any time really, just one of those balls, that it came in this game just made the scoreline look worse.

Congrats Glaws on taking all their chances, which is far more than we managed. 3 of their tries from our errors I reckon (Cips, Sharples and Purdy), and we missed several chances ourselves, from poor mauls, poor decisions and little penetration. Gops and Eastmond at 12/13 doesn't work for me. We also need to be clearer on who should be getting back in a rapid switch from attack and defence, with Miller, Cips and Gops all often dropping back, some confusion reigned. Gaskell at 6 didn't work for me, and Johnson doesn't seem to have the stamina for it either now, Gaskell at 8 if we have to, would rather see Willis on the bench though, and Johnson to come on at 2. Taylor was great, Thompson and Young both good efforts, Robson, Simpson, Cips (big error aside) and Miller all had good games. We felt the loss of our internationals and injured players there. Despite the scoreline, not actually too distraught, but really want to see a different 12/13 combo against Sale, and would like to see dedicated backrow.

Nice to have some perspective on the game.

Yes, thanks again Raggs