George Skivington playing it smart at Gloucester

Gloucester are losing 19 players next month, but George Skivington expects to have a bigger squad next season for the same amount of money.

Zach Mercer, Santi Carreras, Chris Harris, Gareth Anscombe, Christian Wade and Ruan Ackermann are some of the big names leaving Kingsholm, while Ross Byrne, Will Joseph, Jack Mann and Ben Redshaw are among those arriving, with more signings to come.

“You have a budget for the squad and have to spend it wisely,” said Skivington, below, Gloucester’s director of rugby.

“We have to balance the squad better than we have done previously and I think we have done that.

“We have to be smart. If you put big chunks into certain players you can get caught short. We have found ourselves stripped bare in a few places and the squad will be three or four players larger for the same money.

“We will have to work hard to upskill players to get them to be as good as some of the lads who are leaving, but we will get there.

“When clubs went bust a few years ago, we did not chase the big hitters but young players like Seb Atkinson, Caolan Englefield and Afolabi Fasogbon.

“We felt we could get them to a certain level – they cost you in the end when they do well, but that is fine. If we had a bigger budget we would keep everybody, but we have to balance it better.

“There is a lot of pain in it but we have to make the right decisions for Gloucester to take us to where we want to be.

“Having more players will help and we have a group of 18-year-olds coming through who are really exciting and we will be bringing in 12 of them.”

More Balanced Approach

Gloucester have been in the play-off mix this season after two low finishes in the Premiership.

They have had one of the most potent attacks, but Skivington is looking for a more balanced approach going forward.

“It is not the gameplan which will be the focus in pre-season but how quickly we can embed the players with so many leaving and coming in,” said Skivington.

“We have to get everyone aligned and connected as quickly as possible and we have some hungry guys joining us. As a group we understand where the balance of our game has to be.”

Zach Mercer

No.8 Mercer, who has not played since the end of November after suffering knee ligament damage, is leaving despite having a year to go on his contract, part of an agreement he made with the club when joining from Montpellier two seasons ago.

“Zach came back with the ambition to play for England and we knew it was part of the package,” said Skivington.

“He had a couple of knockbacks and it was made quite clear to him he was not going to be part of the journey.

“We knew that if it did not work out for him he would most likely go back to France. The feedback he had from England was around defence and some set-piece bits and their back row was very well stocked.

“As a coach you have to make a call on who you think will deliver what.

Steve Borthwick‘s Thoughts

“Steve (Borthwick, England’s head coach) felt other lads were a bit more rounded and covered more bases.

“Those conversations happened early on and did not change over time.

“Zach is unique. No one moves like him with his ability to wriggle through gaps sideways and do things with the ball. When he moved here, Eddie Jones was then England’s head coach and wanted him back.

“Steve had other plans and that is professional sport. Zach had some great games for us. You either want to use his skill-set or not and that is the way it went. I look forward to watching him carve it up in France.”

Ackermann is departing after spending eight years at Kingsholm, joining when his father Johan was in charge.

“It was a unique scenario with me taking over from his dad, but we have had a great relationship and I built our maul around Ruan,” said Skivington.

“I feel very blessed to have coached him.”

By Paul Rees