Gloucester
After Tigers setback, Glaws need a Rec revival
Scott Lawson
By Cherry Picker
September 10 2008
Right, now this is serious. After chucking away a win at home to Leicester, Gloucester need to put the early-season pieces together at Bath this weekend. After the Tigers disappointment and a verbal mauling from coach Dean Ryan, they will hopefully go to the Rec determined to start an immediate revival, and where better to get their early-season game together?
Because if they slump to another defeat against one of the sides expected to challenge for a play-off place this season, then the Kingsholm alarm bells really will start ringing and Ryan's after-match comments on Sunday questioning his squad's big-match temperament and their ability to take the club to the next level will start to ring true.
Meanwhile, Ryan has strengthened his pack by signing Scottish international hooker Scott Lawson from Sale Sharks, where he felt he wasn't getting enough games.
He will now compete with another former Sale hooker, Andy Titterrell, and Olivier Azam for the role at Kingsholm. Third choice Ross McMillan is out injured, and of course Aussie Jeremy Paul's contract was ended before the season started.
And, off the pitch, there's good news for Sheddites from owner Tom Walkingshaw, who has made it clear he wants to keep the Shed as one of club rugby's most famous features when that side of Kingsholm is eventually redeveloped.
TW told the Citizen: "We have plans to develop the Shed to make it bigger. There will be terracing for about 6,000 people and hospitality units above it.
“We're not getting too much encouragement from the planning department at the moment and that's holding up the development of the site.
"We did the grandstand and we had a timescale for waiting ... for the next stage of development.
“We are now ready ... we need the plans to be going in and looking to move it along by next summer or the summer after and that is what we are now trying to do.”
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