Gloucester
Glaws result vital at Exeter
Luke N - hopeful
By Cherry Picker
November 2 2011
Were the critics too hard on Gloucester after last weekend's defeat at the hands of Saracens saw the end of that long unbeaten home run? There's a theory that says they were, adding that despite that narrow loss, Glaws didn't play badly at all.
Who says so?
Captain Luke Narraway and coach Bryan Redpath for a start – they believe that those, like us, who felt Glaws fell short last weekend got it wrong.
Talking to the Citizen, Narraway said: "It's the first game all season I think where we've played with that much intensity, and at times that much control.
"It felt very controlled out there.
"But we have got to learn a lot from that, because I believe we were the better side for the most part – but we still lost.”
Redpath added: "That's the best we've been physically and mentally, certainly for 70 minutes of the game, all season.”
So how come they lost? Was it because Saracens are so good?
Time will tell, of course, but whatever the reason there will be no room for excuses or such “look on the bright side” theories if Glaws lose again when they go to exeeter this weekend.
The Chiefs have grown well into the Premiership after getting their stay at the top off to such a good start last season, but this is a game Glaws can’t afford to lose.
Narraway added: "If we turn up as we did on Saturday we will win a lot more games than we lose, so we've got to look at that because consistently we haven't been doing that.
"We'll learn a lot about ourselves in Exeter this week because they are similar to us in that they are very strong at home.
"They've got a formidable forward pack, so we're going to learn a lot about ourselves as a squad this week.
"If we're five percent off where we were last weekend, we will lose. “
Redpath says Glaws need to play as well as they did against Sarries and added: “We need to replicate that. We've got to stay at that level, and now that everyone's involved we've got to stay at that level for as long as we can.
"We're not going to be able to fall off the back of that and still succeed.
"There's others teams that have bigger and better squads than us, so we've got to knuckle down now."
Knuckling down is perhaps the least we can expect, facing up to the fact that defeat could plunge Glaws into a losing streak that will take a lot of ending should be enough of an incentive.
They could certainly do without the distraction posed by Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu’s latest Twitter outburst aimed at Sarries Owen Farrell. Having got into trouble for his cyberspace rants at the World Cup, the Rugby Union are investigating the latest incident.
It’s time somebody told EFS to keep his more outspoken opinions to himself, otherwise he may find has had more time for Twittering that he needs.
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02/11/2011 12:59
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They are a fine example of how to treat visitors; a thoroughly enjoyable atmosphere and experience. They have passion for their team and resort to no banale or abusive chanting.
Their after game entertainment kept us there till the stadium closed and we had to stagger back to town, till some Chief fans summoned a cab for us.
A true rugby experience from a club with very little top flight history.
Quote:Zider Rob
One more thing, the people from this board who keep trying to stir it up on other boards. You're not helping, what is the point?
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:03:16:59:09 by Dannyinnit.
