The 'kick in the gut' that has sharpened Gloucester boss Skivington
Gloucester boss George Skivington has revealed how deeply his team’s disappointing Christmas Eve loss at Leicester affected him, making for a distracted time with family over the holiday period. The Cherry and Whites led 8-6 at the Welford Road break but then went on to suffer a heavy 13-28 defeat, the loss arriving eight days after they had been walloped at Leinster in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Left to drive home alone rather than on the team bus, Skivington used the solitude to reflect on the inconsistent first half of the Gloucester campaign and he vowed to put things right, starting with last weekend’s bounce-back win over London Irish which will now be followed by this Friday’s Kingsholm visit of league leaders Saracens.
“My own admission halfway through the season is I tried to push the team on in certain areas so hard that I probably lost sight of a few bits that actually made us really good last year – that is my learning for the first half of the season. We have got to make sure we have got our foundations to push on,” volunteered Skivington, the Gloucester boss since the summer of 2020.
When and how did this epiphany occur, though? “I’ll be honest, it was a long drive home on Christmas Eve from Leicester. I was going to see some family so I drove home on my own. We started that game really well and came in at half-time and we had lost four backs or whatever it was. We ended up in some tricky spots but it didn’t excuse in my mind that we got very loose under pressure at Welford Road in our own 22 and when you watch the game back, Leicester just kicked the ball behind us.
“I have said before, as a coach you are as emotional as anyone after a game and you have got to be quicker than anyone else to pull it together and go, ‘Right, what is the solution?’ I tried to be jolly on Christmas Day for the sake of my kids and their cousins and nephews and all the rest of it, but I did a bit of referencing things and going back over training.
“Like I say, at the end of last year I thought we were very good at the foundations of our game but evidently, we didn’t play enough to merit being in the top four. We weren’t unlucky, we didn’t do enough and I wanted to push that on. We started in a good spot but probably as the season has gone on we have been going, ‘Right, let’s push it’. Then you come up against some of the teams like Leicester, who play a very pragmatic game, and it gets on top of you and then some permutations change and you are going, ‘Why couldn’t we stick to the plan?’
“Then you have got to look at yourself in the mirror and go, ‘Have I given a good enough plan?’ When I reflect I go, ‘Okay, I’m not angry because it was right to try and push the game on but I have got to acknowledge there has got to be a balance’. We worked two years to put a really good thing in place and we want to get better but you can lose track of what your foundations are built on.
“We had some good chats last week before London Irish as a group and the boys felt it was good we addressed some things. It’s not tough fixes because we have done all those stuff mentally many times, it’s just realities of how long it takes to build certain areas of the game. You want it all to happen quickly and I pushed it a bit hard. We haven’t stopped doing things we are good at but we haven’t probably paid them the attention we did last year and that is something we have addressed for the second half of the season hopefully.”
What clubs are the benchmark for being the all-round team that Gloucester and Skivington want to be? “It is very difficult to be an all-round team… Saracens, where they have taken their game this year makes them very, very elite. They have got an all-round game.
“They have got a lot of experienced superstar players in that team so you can get away with a few mistakes when you are trying to push the game on with having 15 internationals on the field, but I do think they are in a very good spot with that.
“Leinster obviously have a very good all-round game, very strong across the board, their kicking game, the way they play set-piece. They would be the two that jump to mind but again it is something to shoot for, something to aim for.
“I don’t think we are a million miles off, not being a complete rugby team but being nearer to where we want to get to. We just muddied the waters a little the last couple of months and sometimes it takes a kick in the gut and a long Christmas Eve drive home to go, ‘Right, I need to take a real dive into this to work out where we are missing a couple of bits’.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful 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!
3 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 …
30 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.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments