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George Skivington glad to end ‘painful’ nine-match losing run with win over Sale
Gloucester head coach George Skivington was happy to end a “painful” run of nine Premiership defeats with their bonus-point 32-20 win over Sale.
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The home side outscored Sale by four tries to two but their opponents did not help themselves with an error-ridden performance which gifted Gloucester a couple of scores.
Sale’s cause was also not helped by the loss of powerful South African forwards Dan du Preez and Cobus Wiese to injury in the first half and two yellow cards for Sam Dugdale and Joe Carpenter.
Gloucester’s tries came from Ollie Thorley, George McGuigan, Ruan Ackermann and Charlie Atkinson, with Santiago Carreras adding three conversions and two penalties.
Skivington said: “It feels good to win a Premiership game as the run has been very painful.
“However I think we’ve fully earned the win as we have been very close and in the fight in the last three league games.
“We’ve worked hard on our ruck and maul since we had a reset seven weeks ago as we had previously got it wrong by thinking that those areas had been banked, which turned out not to be the case.
“We gave away a lot of penalties in the last quarter and then Lewis Ludlow got a yellow card but fortunately we were able to ride the storm out.
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“In a way I wish there was not a break (now) as I believe a few of our combinations are coming together nicely.”
Sale’s defeat was their fifth in succession in all competitions, with head coach Alex Sanderson accepting his share of the blame.
“Our defence was poor in the first half, our set-piece was poor throughout and they feasted on a couple of opportunities we gave them.
Match Summary 
2
Penalty Goals
2
4
Tries
2
3
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
74
Carries
129
5
Line Breaks
5
14
Turnovers Lost
15
2
Turnovers Won
2
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“We’ve always prided ourselves on our defensive performance but we are shipping too many points lately.
“We have shifted our gameplan as we wanted to improve our attacking game but we’ve lost our way a bit.
“The effort was fantastic but we need to be better as coaches and I’ll take my share of the blame for that but we are still a better side than we showed today.
“You are only as good as last game so you want to play again as soon as you can but realistically we need a break from playing.
“The lack of bonus points is a concern as we’ve won as many games as others but still find ourselves down the table.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
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