'Shameful' - Anger as coach accused of damaging Gloucester badge

Gloucester head coach George Skivington is facing significant criticism following his team’s devastating 90-0 defeat to Northampton Saints in the Gallagher Premiership.

The match marked Northampton’s largest-ever win in the competition, securing them a home semi-final. The Gloucester side – which had 12 changes from their European Challenge Cup semi-final victory against Benetton – struggled with cohesion and was thoroughly outplayed.

The Saints – led by a hat-trick from winger Ollie Sleightholme – managed to score 14 tries throughout the game. This performance is second only to the record Premiership victory of 106-12 by Richmond over Bedford in 1999.

Pieter-Steph du Toit – The Malmesbury Missile | RPTV

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Pieter-Steph du Toit – The Malmesbury Missile | RPTV

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Despite fielding a largely second-string team to preserve their key players for the upcoming Challenge Cup final; the scale of the loss has not been well-received by Gloucester fans.

Many took to social media to bemoan the humiliating result that some argue tarnished the club’s reputation. The backlash has been centred not just on the defeat itself, but also on the perceived damage to the prestige of the club’s legacy under Skivington’s leadership.

Back row Lewis Ludlow responded to the result with a social media mea culpa: “We know Gloucester supporters are angry and embarrassed. So are we. That was no where near good enough for this shirt. We won’t shy away from why today happened, but, we have a massive two weeks ahead and we need you with us please!”

Former Gloucester and England legend Phil Vickery posted: “Not sure what to say about this .. a very sad day for a proud club would be a start.”

Not sure what to say about this .. a very sad day for a proud club would be a start .. pic.twitter.com/EnBodewT44

— Phil Vickery MBE DL (@Phil_Vickery) May 11, 2024

Journalist Matt Hardy wrote on X: “A performance devoid of ambition, balance, top flight skill, and effort. Gloucester are a proud club with some of the most passionate fans in world rugby. At Franklin’s Gardens today the Cherry and Whites treated their fans with contempt. Embarrassing for them and the league.”

Many supporters now want Skivington removed as head coach, with #SkivingtonOut popping up on X.

“Get out of our club Skivington,” wrote one irate fan, while another posted: “Alex Brown and George Skivington need to be held to account for that today. Regardless of having a Challenge Cup final in 2 weeks or not, Skivington devalued the Gloucester badge today. The young lads didn’t deserve that as much as the fans didn’t.”

Another angry fan wrote: “Skivington turning us into an embarrassment. Don’t care the final is 2 weeks away, shouldn’t be losing like this. Only gone backwards under him and I’ll still say the same if we win in 2 weeks. Our prem performance has been a disgrace since Ackermann left,” and there were many, many more in that vein.

While many acknowledged that the club have a European final to prepare for, the nature of the defeat and the landslide score was just too much to bear.

“This game was always a sacrificial lamb, we knew a defeat was most probably on the way similar to that at Sarries the other week. But 90 points, that’s shameful. No top level rugby side should be losing by that margin, rotated side or not,” wrote one fan, while another wrote: ”

Leading the charge against Skivington was the Cherry Jam: A Gloucester Rugby Supporter Podcast, who called on Skivington to explain himself to the fans; the travelling ones especially.

“We would like to see George Skivington sit down with all the Gloucester supporters who made the effort to travel to Northampton today and explain why it was worthwhile wasting their time and money.”

While Gloucester have given up on the Gallagher Premiership for this season, a victory in the Challenge Cup final against the Sharks would certainly paper over some cracks for the side. However, whether or not it’s enough to get their fans back on side is another question.