Ollie M - new deal

By Cherry Picker
November 9 2011

The loss of Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu is clearly a blow to Gloucester, but there are compensations as they build up for the opening of the Heineken Cup campaign with a difficult visit to French giants Toulouse on Sunday.

And coach Bryan Redpath will be hoping the luck continues to go Gloucester’s way after Nick Wood and Darren Dawidiuk escaped without punishment after being cited for dangerous tackles in the home defeat by Saracens.

The RFU admitted that  the mandatory consultations with the match officials didn’t happen, so all the governing body could do was remind the pair about the danger of injury in high tackles.

But EFS is out for three weeks – and that’s just the start.

The RFU have reacted to his latest Twitter rant with a three-week ban, but of course he has an International Board suspended six-month sentence hanging over him from the World Cup, and even he expects that now to be activated, meaning his Glaws career will be all but over.

A player of rare talent and a top professional – what a pity that a man with his obvious intelligence and feeling for the game can’t tell the difference between having an opinion and having a rant.

There’s further good news for Glaws, though, ahead of the trip to France with Olly Morgan signing a new three-year deal at Kingsholm, a top move following the deals for Jim Hamilton, Henry Trinder, Charlie Sharples and Will James.

Having broken their long away losing sequence with last weekend’s success at Exeter, going to Toulouse will provide a host of massive challenges for Glaws.

Current champions and top of the French League, Toulouse are always a major force, especially at their own stadium, where the crowd are just as loud and proud as the fans at Kingsholm.

With a sprinkling of current and past French internationals as well as a collection of overseas stars, they are the only French club to have played in every Heineken Cup and their four wins mean they have won the trophy more than any other club.

So no pressure on Glaws there, then, though Redpath clearly views the Premiership as this season’s top priority.

He told the Citizen: "I think the bread and butter is the Premiership and we've always highlighted that. It's important that we get our priorities right, but you must produce a good fist of it.

"Home matches are crucial and away you must try to pick up points.

"Last year London Irish won six out of six then lost ten in a row, because they had tough times in the Heineken.

"So you can't disrespect it or look too far ahead.

"For us to win the Heineken Cup would be an amazing feat.

"So we're not even thinking about that, it could be massively detrimental: we've just got to give everything we've got to this game, and see where that leaves us."

Discussion started by Shedloads (IP Logged), 09/11/2011 11:38

Shedloads
09/11/2011 11:38

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