Gloucester
Glaws complete their Heineken Cup Italian job
Dean Ryan - happy
By Cherry Picker
December 7 2008
Mission accomplished – Gloucester come home from Northern Italy with a Heineken Cup bonus point after a thoroughly professional show against Calvisano. The home side mixed it a bit and refused to bow the knee even when Glaws were making it clear they were much the superior team, and coach Dean Ryan has every right to be satisfied.
Coasting midway through the second half against a side reduced to ten men when lock Nicola Cattina was sent off, Gloucester were shaken by two quick tries from the home team.
But they responded well to close the game down and finish off Calvisano’s resistance for a 40-17 victory.
Tries came from Ryan Lamb, Luke Narraway, Marco Bortolami, Jack Forster, a penalty try and Mike Tindall, Olly Barkley converting five of them.
Now Glaws face Calvisano at Kingsholm next weekend looking for another bonus point win as they recover from their defeat at Cardiff in the previous HC game.
The big fixtures are in mid-January, when Glaws entertain the Blues in the return game and then travel to take on Biarritz in France.
Ryan told the BBC: "I am satisfied with the outcome because we had to get a bonus point, and when you go into a game with that frame of mind you do things slightly differently from how you would normally. "It's hard because you are effectively chasing a game from the off but we did what we had to do, got the job done and can now move forward to next week.
"The pitch was tight, small and heavy, but we did well to adapt to what was in front of us and did some good things without ever really getting into our stride."
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