By Chris Chaplin
October 7 2003

With a combination of injuries and absences on World Cup duties for both sides Saturday sees Tigers travel to Kingsholm to meet last years’ Champions. Both sides look very different though from the last time they met on a damp Spring Day back in May.

Last weekend saw reverses in fortune for both of this week’s combatants with Glaws getting a real going over by Tigers opponents last week, Newcastle Falcons. In the meantime Tigers themselves stumbled to a narrow loss at home to Sale. Both Glaws and Tigers are now sitting mid table with this weekend’s outcome seeing the loser almost certainly in the bottom half.


The Cherry and Whites haven’t been beaten at Kingsholm since September 2001 when Tigers turned them over with a stunning second half performance from the recently returned Tigers British Lions contingent and a certain Mr Moody who also had a memorable afternoon. Last term Tigers prevailed at Welford Road in an exciting encounter but the result was reversed when a dispirited Tigers side visited Glaws in May.


Since then of course there have been changes to personnel in both camps. Those at Tigers are well known to us as are our absentees through the call of fame and riches beyond the dreams of avarice at the World Cup however Gloucester are also stricken and as a consequence their results so far this term have been patchy to say the very least.


Of course the Cherry and Whites have a double whammy in many respects, the first part of which sees three of their first choice front row players, Woodman, Vickery and Roncero all down Australia way. This has seen new signings Brotherstone and Johnstone link up first with veteran Andy Deacon who sustained an injury against London Irish and as a consequence prop Adrian Olver was signed on loan from Worcester. While Glaws still have Chris Fortey and youngsters Chris Collins and Rob Elloway available at hooker their options at prop are with Academy youngsters Mark Irish, Nick Wood or Michael Guess in the event of problems with either Olver or Johnstone.


Johnstone was one of those looking for gainful employment following the relegation of Bristol. The Zimbabwean born prop has played six times for his country and scored a single try. He played over 70 times for Bristol scoring 11 tries from which it will be gathered that his play in the loose is impressive and we saw something of that against Sarries when he formed part the free running cabal of forwards that looked so dangerous out wide and even during his 25 games for London Scottish he again managed to get himself over the line on 11 occasions, so one to watch in broken play.


On loan Olver has been around a bit having plied his trade at Bedford, Quins, Saracens and Rotherham with his 11 tries from 82 appearances showing his scoring credentials as well.


Scot Steve Brotherstone was, for me, a surprise departure from Falcons during the close season but anyway here he is in the balmy south-west having made 17 appearances for the Falcons, prior to which he was at Saints where he appeared 20 times. Capped 20 times for his country he’s another mobile modern forward and has seemingly steadied the Glaws lineout, which was an Achilles heel last term, with some long needed consistently accurate throwing in.


In the second row another Bristolian exile, Alex Brown. A fine signing by coaches Melville and Ryan. This lad can pinch ball all day if the opposition is less than 100% accurate in the execution of it’s line-out drill and sometimes he’ll get the ball even if they are seemingly inch perfect, with Ben Kay and Alex Codling Brown he is one of the best burglars at the set piece we’re likely to see. Brown has only his time at Bristol on his cv where he made nearly 70 appearances. He’ll be partnered by either Mark Cornwall or Adam Eustace both of whom are Cherry and White to the core, although I always feel that Eustace has the more committed approach with Cornwall often looking less combative than his colleague especially in the loose.


The supremely talented Glaws back-row has been mercifully, for them at least, untouched by the travails of World Cup with the ever excellent and deserved player of the year Jake Boer being the heart of the side. This dynamo is a flanker in the Neil Back mould and I can pay him no finer compliment than that. He will as usual prove a real handful whether it’s on the floor, in the loose or making a nuisance of himself at the set pieces. With over 100 appearances and 15 tries to his name he even has the badge of “honour” for a flanker of having gained three yellow cards!


Although not usually reckoned to be an 80 minute player these days Junior Paramore still remains an elemental force and has scored 20 odd tries for his club and although it’s true he’s lost a few yards of pace but he’s still an essential component in an otherwise somewhat lightweight back-row, usually giving way later to the more eye-catching skills of the fleet-footed James Forrester and the potent threat he represents but who‘s presence removes, at a stroke, 10 kilos from the pack weight. However with Paramore having broken his arm at Kingston Park last weekend Glaws have something of a problem.


Given the need to maintain bulk I expect to see a back-row of Boer, Buxton and Forrester start and with Forrester in situ that the ball will be spun out fast from the set pieces or mauls, the latter of which he’ll often stand off, while he’ll pick up and go from the base scrum or back of the line-out at alarming speed. Peter Buxton, the ex Newport player, may not be as dynamic as some but he certainly doesn’t shy away from the hard work and will literally be worth his weight.


If things go awry then Hazell will be brought in and Buxton’s weight sacrificed although Hazell may well not start. He is another flanker who has been unfortunate enough to be trying to establish himself internationally at a time of an embarrassment of riches for the England selectors. Dogged by injury this fine young player will surely have his day on the big stage.


We now come to whammy part 2 - the half-backs. Andy Gomersall of course secured the third scrum-half berth in Australia at the expense of our own Austin Healey and the other part of last years’ partnership, Ludo Mercier has returned to France. With Duncan McRae in trouble again and currently suspended the Kingsholm faithful have had to endure some traumatic times with sevens exponent Simon Amor first at #9 with Academy player Brad Davies at fly-half. However with Davies having been crocked in the London Irish game Amor has moved to his position with young Alex Page slotting in at #9. Whichever combination of these three are used they are hugely inexperienced in the 15 a side game, talented maybe, but inexperienced without doubt and from what I’ve seen and heard from the faithful life is a bit of struggle in the half back department at present.


To some degree these difficulties are not being helped by Henry Paul standing extraordinarily deep, with the fly-half’s pass often barely making the distance, this tactic is presumably designed to give his backs additional space to attack but without the benefit of a good strong flat pass from the first receiver it’s a tactic that doesn’t always work, although it’s great when it does! Paul remains something of an enigma to me and many others, just occasionally he displays those touches of brilliance and spatial awareness that gave him his reputation but then suddenly he commits errors of extraordinary naivety and sometimes stupidity. I still think he dislikes the up close and nasty bits of his profession, preferring to operate on a more cerebral level sitting back as the maestro conducting events, quite how this desire will fit in with Duncan McRae who likes to be the organ grinder as well we can only wait and see. He’s performing his kicking duties pretty well though as he did when with the Bulls.


With Kingsholm’s adopted favourite son Terry Fanaloua otherwise engaged one of my favourite players, Robert Todd, has returned to the starting lineup. Deposed when Paul eventually gravitated to inside centre where he should have been in the first place, we don’t seem to have seen much of Toddy. This hard running, hard tackling Kiwi centre came to Glaws via London Irish for whom he made 32 appearances scoring 10 tries and has, with almost 50 Premiership appearances for the Cherry and Whites, contributed a dozen tries and made countless others. What I so admire in Todd is his ability to go into contact and keep the ball alive his strength in remaining on his feet to offload the ball being quite superb.


On the wings James Simpson-Daniel has made his return after inexplicably losing out to Luger in the RWC squad. While perhaps not the fastest wing around he’s quick enough and has a great footballing brain and is a real talent. On the other wing that enfant terrible Marcel Garvey. As for so many mercurial talents the curse of video analysis has seen much of the surprise element removed from what this young man can do, however knowing what he can do and how he can do it is one thing, stopping him is quite another.


Finally to full-back where with the wonderful Thinius Delport absent many thought this was gap too far - step up Mr Goodridge, another counter attacking youngster with a big future I reckon, who knows Thinius may have to fight harder than he thought to get his place back!


Clearly a few areas of weakness to be exploited with the lightish pack getting pushed around the park by Sarries at times and inexperienced half backs, perhaps this will be when the home record finally goes and ironically to the last team to win at Castle Grim all that time ago back in September 2001.


The question is will the Tigers of the class of 2003 be up to the task?


One thing is certain and that is if Tigers play with the same careless and lacklustre approach that they did against Sale they will lose to Glaws, who even when at their worst are lifted at least 25% by the Shed.


In my preview of the Sale match I said that my fears as to the ability of our depleted scrum were subsiding – the fears are back after the lack of go forward on Saturday against a better but still only mediocre Sale 8 who were far more committed to their cause than were the Tigers. A similar performance or even one only 50% better will see our backs denied any quality ball of note against a Gloucester pack that will not only be fired up after a heavy loss against Falcons but in front of a packed Shed. Morris/Rowntree/ Chuter/Nebbett should be able to amply deal with the possible front row combinations available to the Cherry and Whites but they will need to show 110% more controlled aggression and technical capability and Chuter must get back the improved accuracy of throwing that we’d seen before the Sale game.


As far as the second row is concerned Hamilton needs to not only apply himself more but fully compete at the lineout and display more of a propensity to use the top two inches. Candidly I see any of the Tigers’ locks available to partner Deacon as liable to struggle against Brown and Eustace/Cornwall and expect to see the Cherry and Whites making much use of the lineout which is a clear and significant weakness for Tigers.


In the back-row Josh needs to put his surf-board back in it’s bag and rally the troops. Glaws may start with Boer/Forrester/Buxton before bringing on Hazell instead of Buxton if things need further pepping up. If this is the starting Glaws line-up then Tigers will need to bring speed into the back-row to combat the threat of Forrester given the apparent defensive frailties of Pez and so for my money Josh should move to six allowing Skinner to start at 7 with Balders ideally at 8 if fit. Tigers big chance stands at half-back and if Oz and Pez can get anything like decent ball they should run riot here. Paul will stand deep but when he’s in striking distance Gibson should make mincemeat out of him, if he doesn’t then Paul will cause problems if his brain isn’t partially watching for the contact. Gibson could benefit from quick ball from our half-backs and break through the 10/12 and 12/13 channels and with Ollie on his shoulder things would happen.


I have asked several people at the club why Ollie and Leon are playing out of position – nobody, apart from Deano presumably, knows. If this misguided policy is continued then Todd will be the beneficiary as Leon won’t get past him, Ollie would though and the Glaws faithful have everything crossed that this foolishness of playing one of the best centres in England on the wing continues, for if not they are fearful of Noon’s hat-trick against them on Sunday being repeated through their sometimes statuesque central defence.


On the wings I am fearful that Holtby may find Garvey too much although Ollie should, if he stays out there, be able to watch Sinbad well enough but he’ll need to be on his mettle, although equally to navigate Leon on the wing Simpson-Daniel would need to come inside where Ollie and Gibson would be waiting anyway.


On Saturday’s display young Jon Goodridge will simply run round Stimpson who seemed to have lost all focus for most of the Sale match, giving the impression that wherever his mind was it wasn’t at Welford Road, perhaps he was already dreaming of warm days in South-west France. He’ll not only need to be alert to the danger posed by another beautifully balanced back three but get his kicks as some of the misses on Saturday were real shockers.


The outcome? Well Glaws are not firing on all cylinders and who would expect them to be? Theoretically then Tigers should have the chance of a famous victory and if the pack performs as they need to and maybe will then I reckon our half-backs and centers will go well. However the naivety and even the general demeanor of the front five in particular will take some turning around this week Rowntree is sorely needed and Morris must look and play like the British Lion that he was . I fear a loss at Castle Grim though and the perfect symmetry of a Tigers being the last and first team to win at Kingsholm for two years being denied us.