About Gloucester Rugby's glorious away victory at the Recreational Ground yesterday.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TODAY
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Graham Clutton
Gloucester not only secured the west country bragging rights at The Rec yesterday afternoon but edged into the top six of the Aviva Premiership.
A try from prop Nick Wood and three penalties was enough to make it seven wins for the season for Bryan Redpath’s side.
The celebrations on referee Wayne Barnes’ final whistle said it all! It was an often tetchy affair from the moment Ryan Caldwell and Jim Hamilton were using ushered to the sin bin for a spot of fisticuffs.
No complaints from either lock or from Gloucester when the officials deemed Bath wing Tom Biggs to have touched down after winning a foot race with Charlie Sharples.
The quagmire conditions continued to dictate the pace of the game, although to the credit of both sides, there was never any sign of caution. In fact, the move that led to Wood’s 18thminute try was stylish in the extreme.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/9089656/Bath-11-Gloucester-14-match-report.html
THIS IS BARF ONLINE
The Rec endured chants of 'Gloucester, Gloucester' after the final whistle for the second year running as Bath Rugby went down 14-11 to their West Country rivals.
An early try by Tom Biggs and a penalty apiece by Olly Barkley and Tom Heathcote wasn't enough for the hosts, with replacement fly-half Ryan Mills kicking the winning points.
Gloucester's other points came from a Nick Wood try and two Freddie Burns penalties.
The result means Gloucester have pulled off an Aviva Premiership double over Bath for the past two seasons.
THIS IS GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Nick Purewal
Gloucester’s pack were superb, Burns marshalled the troops smartly delving into his entire repertoire of cheeky chips, line breaks – and also tight tactical kicking.
Loosehead prop Wood produced the complete performance too, one second-half 20-metre midfield line break a devastating rumble from a man whose loose play is sometimes question in certain quarters.
Add free-running rampages to his turnover ball-winning exploits – and all this on top of once-again devastating scrummaging.But to do that Gloucester boss Redpath admits his men must find more fluency and greater all-round synergy in the coming weeks and months.
GUARDIAN ONLINE
Paul Rees
One of Gloucester's problems this season has been that they have been consistent only in their inconsistency. But after recording a second successive Premiership double over their West Country rivals, they moved stealthily into the top five, primed for an assault on the play-offs when, or if, the weather improves and the pitches become firmer.
The players took to the field to a deluge of rain and left it bathed in sunlight. Gloucester were dominant for long periods, but missed kicks and passes kept them within a penalty of forfeiting victory. Bath lacked quality, pointing afterwards to seven injuries, but the visitors excited in a way the home side did not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/feb/18/bath-gloucester-premiership?newsfeed=true
GLOUCESTER RUGBY
Duncan Wood
Scrummaging as powerfully as ever, Nick Wood the loose head also managed to score Gloucester's try, make a couple of rampaging runs in the loose and also track down Bath scrum half Michael Claassens when the South African made a dangerous break. He was deservedly named Man of the Match by Sky.
In the content of the Aviva Premiership season, it's a huge win.
http://www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk/rugby/7964.php
SKY SPORTS
Gloucester coach Bryan Redpath also hailed the performance of Nick Wood, whose scrum presence and strong showing in the loose belied England's decision to omit him from their Six Nations squad.
"Nick was outstanding," he said. "His last two games have not been top notch, but outside of that over about 20-odd games, for him only to have two that haven't been up there is great. To finish off as he did today was good and his general enthusiasm was excellent”.
http://www.skysports.com/rugbyunion/match_reaction/0,20244,11069_48034_1,00.html
WHAT THE COACHES SAID
Bath director of rugby Sir Ian McGeechan:
"I think at 11-all we had the momentum but unfortunately we made a couple of poor decisions kicking the ball out.
"What we needed was a good clearance from the kick off but we didn't get it, they ran it back at us and we never really got back out of our half from there.
"Their kicking game was more astute than ours today."
Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath:
"It's never an issue using Ryan in any big game. I was delighted for him, he has worked hard and today was a great reward.
"It was about giving him a chance and he kicked well, he had one great high ball and chase on Olly Barkley, and he had a great kick at goal."
