Now that’s much more like it – Dean Ryan’s plan to get his Gloucester team to gradually improve as the season wears on looks like bearing fruit. Their 25-21 win at Saracens might have come at the end of a nervous finale as they had to defend a late home flourish, but it was a deserved result.
Gloucester looked like ... well, Gloucester, as they put their early-season form behind them.
Antony Allen scored a try on his welcome return to action, Olly Morgan and Big Les (above) also crossed for tries, and it was only a penalty try late on that made things so close in the end. It was a Gloucester performance to warm the cockles of the heart after their inconsistent start to the season. They were sharp, tough, professional and incisive ... no wonder Ryan was pleased after the game. He told the BBC: "We've played very well today and I felt like we were back to the Gloucester of old. "Olly Morgan has taken his try extremely well and Anthony Allen slotted straight back in. "He is a player who knows the Gloucester way and we haven't played that way until today, even when we won, so I'm very happy to be back to that. “What's important for me is it looked like Gloucester and we know if we play like Gloucester regularly we're quite difficult to beat. We know over the stretch of nine months a good Gloucester side will be up there competing at the end." The game didn’t pass without some controversy, though, as Gareth Cooper was named on the Glaws bench after he was left out of the Welsh 22 for their Friday game against Canada. Ryan told the Citizen: "The decision was taken by all parties involved that Cooper was in the 22. What happens from here is for other people to resolve."
Thats a big win for Glaws. Sarries are always tough on their own patch so to come away with the win is probably the performance of the season so far. Got to keep it going now and take the momentum into the game against brizzle
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net