'A guy you want to build things around' - Gloucester hail returning England star

George Skivington hailed England centre Seb Atkinson’s impact on his return from injury in a 26-15 Gallagher Prem victory over Harlequins.

Atkinson, who excelled on England’s summer tour to Argentina, was ruled out of the Quilter Autumn Nations Series after suffering a knee and hip injury during the Prem defeat at Bath in mid-October.

But he looked as though he had never been away as Gloucester claimed their first Prem win of the season at the sixth attempt.

“Having Seb back and his energy back was great. He is a guy you want to build things around,” Gloucester rugby director Skivington said.

“He is a tough lad and he deals with things pretty well. He controls what he can control.

“Seb is a massive part of it here. He is a leader and him being on the field is crucial for us.”

Full-back Ben Redshaw also shone, scoring two tries as Gloucester triumphed for the first time in league action since May.

Flanker Lewis Ludlow and wing Ollie Thorley added further touchdowns for Skivington’s team, securing a bonus-point success complemented by fly-half Ross Byrne kicking three conversions.

Skivington added: “We have tightened up on the nuts and bolts and what actually made us good last season.

“It’s massive. Getting the win was the most important thing, but probably on a par with that was that we looked like Gloucester, and we hadn’t done in the previous five league games.

“We had to win today, but I think we also had to look a bit more like our team.”

Quins, whose England star Marcus Smith endured a frustrating afternoon, trailed by only two points at the interval but could not add to tries from wing Cadan Murley and skipper Alex Dombrandt, both converted by Smith.

The visitors produced only occasional glimpses of their trademark attacking game, and second-half inaccuracy cost them dear as Gloucester eased home without remotely hitting top gear.

Quins’ senior coach Jason Gilmore said: “The (Gloucester) try on half-time just put a bit of a hole in us unfortunately, and the second half we couldn’t build any momentum.

“When we had the ball and started to apply a bit of pressure, we turned it over too easily. We also lost the aerial battle, and I felt we shot ourselves in the foot a bit.

“There were a lot of unforced errors and it is immense frustration. We wanted to go heavy at this game.”