Gloucester
Biarritz trip will test Glaws to the limit
By Cherry Picker
October 14 2009
Gloucester face one of their toughest assignments of the season when they travel to France to meet Biarritz in the Heineken Cup on Saturday, and with the game live on telly here there’s a chance for all their fans to see how they carry on after winning their last two games.
The victories weren’t exactly convincing, but they were wins, and after the start they had had to the season, Glaws were in no position to complain.
Biarritz are in third place in the Top 14 in France, having won six and lost three of their nine games so far – it was always a difficult place to play, and on current form it’s likely to be even more difficult for Glaws.
It’s the way of things that Glaws are having no luck this season, and the latest blow came when Olivier Azam lost his appeal against the 12-week ban he was handed for kicking Steve Borthwick in the Saracens match earlier in the season. He was always going to be missing at Biarritz, of course, but now he won’t be available until the end of December.
The appeal panel messed about with the mechanics of the ban, but what matters is that it’s still 12 weeks, effectively finishing his season unless Glaws are in desperate need of him when he is available again.
Gloucester's head of rugby operations Rob Burgess said on the club website that he felt Azam was paying for a second disciplinary appearance in a short time.
"Olivier will now miss three months of rugby at a critical time of the season, which is damaging for both him and the club,” he added.
"We just hope that there is consistency applied not only across the English game but also across Europe for similar cases, as this is vital out of fairness to players and for maintaining the credibility of rugby in the eyes of supporters."
We wonder if he means he and the club feel that Azam and Glaws are being treated unfairly or victimised in any way.
But the good news is that Mike Tindall and Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu are expected to be available again after injury, and coach Bryan Redpath told the Citizen: "It's never going to be easy going across there. We've got a long recovery now after a short turnaround last week.
"Winning is a habit and we've won the last two without being pretty. Some of our basics are poor, which we can work on in the week."
It’s going to be a huge test for Glaws and while a good result would be a great boost, it’s just as important that if they lose they aren’t completely overrun.
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14/10/2009 11:22
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Why is it Glos run so hot or cold ? They either look really good, or terrible. Every season seems to be one Glos will come good, but can't put a whole season together, is it just big game nerves ?
Hope you guys can recover, and challenge in the GP this year.
