What George Skivngton discovered 'watching that game back four times'

George Skivington has revealed there was no squad video nasty review of last Saturday’s humiliating loss at Northampton, the Gloucester boss instead explaining it was best that a series of one-to-one reviews were done with players who played in the match.

Set to face the Durban-based Sharks in the EPCR Challenge Cup final on May 24 at Tottenham, the Kingsholm outfit sent their second string to Franklin’s Gardens and were blown away, embarrassingly losing 0-90 to the league leaders.

Skivington was adamant that he would take the same approach to selection again, claiming most of the supporters he has met in Gloucester would prefer a big cup final day out as opposed to improving the club’s lowly league position of ninth.

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However, rather than subject the players who were exposed at Northampton to a group review in from of the entire squad, the coach decided to handle things on Monday in private on a one-to-one basis.

“We have done individual reviews this week rather than a team because obviously, we are playing a different team this weekend (against Newcastle),” he explained on Tuesday afternoon when queried by RugbyPass.

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“What happened on the weekend was down to the primary thing which was to rotate the squad, so the lads who are playing this week don’t necessarily need to do that [watch the review].

“There was a lot of inexperience out there and that’s probably better done one-on-one sitting in a room and going through it and just making sure we cover everything off like that. We have done all that and we are focused on Newcastle now.”

Skivington admitted that the two-hour, 160km bus journey back to Gloucester from the East Midlands was an ordeal. “It was quiet. We put the Quins-Exeter game on actually.

“It was a quiet bus so we just watched Quins-Exeter. Not much talking. A lot of reflecting, a lot of things bouncing around your mind obviously.

“Mine goes straight to thinking about the week and how we prepared, were the messages good enough, where did we get that so badly wrong? Not a great bus journey home at all. Very quiet, that would be the way to sum it up.

“We have all got accountability for what happened,” he added. “Most of the guys will be very disappointed in the performance they put out. My job every week, I review how we prepared as a team, what our messages from coaches were, how we trained. In reflection, I don’t think we had a terrible training week. We trained well.

“Whether we were ready for how good Saints are, maybe not because I have watched that game back four times and to be fair to Saints, they were absolutely ruthless in everything.

“I don’t think I have ever seen a team keep their pedal to the floor like that for 80 minutes in any context. They were on it from minute one and they never let us off, never let us breathe and we struggled with that massively. It’s just a really bad day.

"Ultimately no English team is battling on more than one front at the back end of this season… but it doesn't make that loss any easier."

– How George Skivington is feeling three days after Gloucester were embarrassed 0-90 at Northampton, from Liam Heagney ?? #GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/n3TeVhVSqz

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 14, 2024

“Really hard to say what we would do differently. We wouldn’t change our approach to it but we would possibly have simplified things maybe even down to you try and kick the first kick-off rather than receive it, try and get in their half, and hope you get a lineout in their half rather than the first lineout is on your half and suddenly there are four lineouts and it was like an avalanche we never got out of.

“Like I say, from the point of view we have got two massive weeks to finish the season, it’s something I have got a lot of notes on and I will think heavily about it in the off-season.

“I don’t anticipate we will be in the position in the Premiership that we will ever be doing that again at the back end of the season, but certainly I have got to work out where our squad is and add a bit of depth.”