Skivington: We beat ourselves up over Leicester

By PAUL REES

PREVIEW…

Gloucester v London Irish

Saturday December 31. Kick-off 3pm, Kingsholm

Limped off: Rees-Zammit

GEORGE Skivington hopes the Kingsholm factor will take Gloucester in the new year on a high after four defeats in their last five Premiership matches.

Gloucester welcome London Irish on New Year’s Eve after losing their way in the league since the start of the autumn internationals when they lost a dozen players to various countries.

Their only Premiership defeat until then had been at Saracens when they let a lead slip in the final minutes, but their one victory since has been against Northampton and they lost at home to Newcastle.

“The boys love playing at Kingsholm and there is no better atmosphere,” said Skivington, Gloucester’s head coach who joined from London Irish in the summer of 2020. “We always get excited when we play there and this will be another massive pressure game for us.”

Skivington had to hide his disappointment on Christmas Day after the previous day’s defeat at Leicester when his side blew a half-time lead at a ground where they had not won for 15 years.

“I was not in a great spot after Leicester,” said Skivington. “I did my best to be happy for my kids on Christmas Day, but I was dejected after the game. We had trained well and had a good gameplan but with 15 minutes to go we were wondering where it had all gone wrong.

“I should have stripped it back at half-time because we had lost personnel who were there to execute what we had set up. I am emotional but you have to get over it quickly and find the solutions.

“I was not a good day and we had had frank discussions as a group. The players were honest and the senior ones said they should have recognised on the field what needed to be done. Monday was one of the most open reviews we have had and it was clear that the lads had, like me, beaten themselves up.”

Gloucester lost Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit and the Argentina back Santiago Carreras before the break at Leicester with outside-half Adam Hastings and Lloyd Evans falling after the break. All four needed scans this week, but the festive period meant they were delayed.

“Zam’s did not look great and appears to be the most niggly,” said Skivington, who had to summon a replacement after 10 minutes when the Lion landed awkwardly on his ankle and was unable to run the injury off.

“We have tried to be more expansive this season because last year’s gameplan only took us so far. As we get to the halfway point of the season, we have not quite got the balance right and need to be 10 per cent better.

“It is not through any lack of hard work. We have not found our perfect metric yet but I am confident we will get there. It is a work in progress and I am frustrated because no matter how much you want it to come together, it is never as quick as you want it to be.”

Irish have only won twice at Kingsholm in the Premiership, the last time at the beginning of January in 2013, and they have had a number of hard-luck stories this season, not least the home defeat by a point to Gloucester in October, but Skivington expects another hard fought game.

“They have looked good all season,” he said. “They have lost a number of matches by one score but they have a good set-piece and play brilliant attacking rugby: their back three is on current form the best in the Premiership.

“They showed doggedness against Saracens last week when they were down to 12 men and they are a very dangerous side. We have to make sure our foundations are good but we do not want to go back to basics because we need keep pushing our game on.”