Champions Cup: George Skivington proud of young Gloucester team despite heavy loss against Leinster
Despite suffering a humiliating 57-0 defeat to Leinster at the RDS Arena on Friday night, Gloucester head coach George Skivington hailed the “fighting spirit” his young team showed in the Champions Cup fixture.
Skivington rested several of his first-choice players ahead of a Premiership clash with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Christmas Eve and he took the blame for the lopsided scoreline against Leinster.
Nine-try rout
The Irish province were in a rampant mood as they raced into a 31-0 half-time lead and eventually outscored their hapless opponents by nine tries to none with James Lowe (2), Josh van der Flier, Ronan Kelleher (2), James Ryan, Luke McGrath, Jordan Larmour and Caelan Doris crossing the whitewash for the hosts.
“It is not enjoyable to lose and not enjoyable to lose in that fashion, but in the context of the group we brought and to play a team that went to Racing and won 42-10 last week, I thought some of those young lads showed some real fighting spirit,” insisted Skivington.
“That was the marker today, how long you were going to fight for and do the basics well and see how it goes. We put some pressure on Leinster but didn’t quite execute against a very strong defence. The fight and intent of the boys was spot on.”
Gloucester struggled from the outset and lost George Barton, Alex Hearle and Arthur Clark to injuries during the first half, while Henry Walker and Ciaran Knight received yellow cards either side of half-time.
Skivington received plenty of criticism for fielding an understrength side against Leinster, but he took responsibility for the heavy defeat as he turns focus to the Cherry and Whites’ league campaign before the return fixture against Leinster at Kingsholm in mid-January.
“I thought the boys did everything I asked of them, but the score’s on me. It’s not a reflection of the players,” he said.
“Leinster are very well coached, very well drilled, and they don’t blow their roles, and that’s why they’re the favourites for the tournament. It’s not a nice scoreline but they put big scorelines on huge French clubs.”
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen mentioned the return match against Gloucester when reflecting on Friday’s performance from his troops and he expects the Cherry and Whites to offer a tougher challenge when the sides meet on January 14.
“Gloucester, when they play at Kingsholm in front of the Shed, it’s a very, very proud club there, so I’m sure they’ll come out firing,” he acknowledged.
“They have other players who I’m sure they’ll bring back into the picture as well, so it’s important that we’re not getting carried away with ourselves as well.
“But it’s nice to have 10 points on the board and looking forward to the challenge that’s ahead.”
Chasing home advantage in the knockout rounds
Leinster are more determined to secure home advantage in the Champions Cup‘s knockout rounds, following last year’s Covid-19-disrupted campaign that saw them miss out on crucial points when Montpellier were awarded a 28-0 win by EPCR following positive cases.
“The nil part is probably the most pleasing thing because they did have opportunities, some great scramble, a ‘young player’ (Jonathan Sexton) coming on the end there making a try-saving tackle over the line. That was good to see,” Cullen added.
