Dean Ryan - spot on
Gloucester get revenge for Twickenham mauling
Dean Ryan - spot on
By Cherry Picker October 7 2007
Four games, four wins, three of them away from home. Gloucester are the early pacesetters in the Guinness Premiership, the team they’ll all have to overcome if anybody else is to stand a chance of finishing top. And, as a bonus, coach Dean Ryan’s team choices are being proved spot on as he demonstrates that squad rotation really can work.
Dean Ryan - spot on
Four games, four wins, three of them away from home. Gloucester are the early pacesetters in the Guinness Premiership, the team they’ll all have to overcome if anybody else is to stand a chance of finishing top. And, as a bonus, coach Dean Ryan’s team choices are being proved spot on as he demonstrates that squad rotation really can work.
He left out top scorer Ryan Lamb for the difficult trip to Leicester on Saturday night, and his replacement Willie Walker (left) grabbed 20 of his team’s points in their 30-17 victory.Winning at Welford Road is never easy, World Cup or no World Cup, and to win with a good deal to spare is another bonus for galloping Glaws.
And what revenge for last May’s disappointment at Twickenham when the Tigers mauled Glaws in the Premiership final.
With players like Lesley Vainikolo, James Simpson-Daniel and Iain Balshaw out injured and the club’s World Cup contingent yet to return from France, to say the prospects for the season are looking good is a massive understatement.
They are looking brilliant, and already this season, it appears to be a question of who can hold Glaws and prevent them from winning the Premiership.
The answer, of course, is that several clubs COULD do it – Leicester being just one of them – but whether any of them WILL do it remains to be seen.
Leicester had lost only once in their previous 39 home Premiership matches, but this result was never in doubt.
Ex- Tiger Leon Lloyd intercepted an Andy Goode pass for a great opening try, and Glaws were soon 14 points up via a penalty try.
Goode was replaced after he missed two penalties and ten minutes from the end Tom Croft went past some disappointing tackling to score for the Tigers.
But Walker weaved through to touch down and converted his own try to take his haul to 20 points. There was a late converted Matt Cornwell try for Leicester, but it came far too late to make any difference.
Glaws coach Ryan said: "Obviously I'm delighted because Welford Road is not an easy place to come to.
"But I'm a little disappointed we missed two or three opportunities to make it more clear-cut and that would have removed the anxiety at the end.
"I thought we were very good in the first 20 minutes. We had great scrum pressure that created opportunities."
Scorer Lloyd added: “When I played here for Leicester about 150-odd times, I think I only lost about five or six times so I know how hard it is to win here. It is a fantastic result for us in the long-term. It is something we can really build on.”Next up are Sale, who visit Kingsholm next Saturday for a 3pm kick-off.
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Stumbleupon| 7 Oct, 2007 22:12 | Report |
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cheerycherry (IP Logged) Registered User |
Date Joined: Apr, 2007 Location: Posts: 3387 |
Re: Gloucester get revenge for Twickenham mauling
Was a great result considering Glaws even had the luxury of butchering a few chances. Too early to say this is going to be a great season but certainly mightily impressed with the first four games. We will know more once all the sides have their RWC players back then there will be a true reflection of teams strengths
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| 8 Oct, 2007 07:29 | Report |
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