Big week for Gloucester Rugby after humbling by Northampton Saints
What a difference a week makes. The tight grip Gloucester Rugby held over the Ospreys was broken in the first five minutes at Franklin's Gardens – and the result was a thumping.
It meant another post-match interview in which Dean Ryan was unable to explain why his side had been so defensively excellent one week yet so dismal in the same area a week later.
The head coach had clearly just ripped into his side in the dressing room – it was a performance that could have sealed the fate of many rumoured to be on their way out of the club at the end of the season.
Points were shipped as freely as ice cream was sold by the van parked outside the home of Northampton, and the Saints backs, led by their rampaging skipper Bruce Reihana, feasted merrily.
The result puts a top two finish all but beyond the Cherry and Whites and casts a serious doubt over whether Ryan's men will be in the play-offs at all – unthinkable given the talent on show on Saturday afternoon.
Gloucester were injury ravaged out wide, but a triple substitution made in the 47th minute laid bare the resources at Ryan's disposal. Ryan Lamb, Anthony Allen and Nick Wood left the field to be replaced by Carlos Spencer, Olly Barkley and Carlos Nieto, three internationals of immense pedigree.
But the home side had their tails up by this point and there was no stopping them, although the third and fourth bonus-point-winning tries did not arrive until the 77th and 80th minutes.
Gloucester lost yet another away game and extended their run of Guinness Premiership fixtures without a win to six – stretching back to December 27. That is not trophy-winning form, and although there is a big final next up for the Cherry and Whites, an EDF Energy Cup win will do little to satisfy the Shed's hunger for major silverware.
There were positives, although few and far between. Olly Morgan had another dangerous game in attack, making the break which set up the Mark Foster try in the 31st minute, although Reihana stepped him a couple of times, notably for the Dylan Hartley score on 17 minutes.
Akapusi Qera started and finished a game for the first time since his injury, one carry that led to a rare Will James try after 25 minutes a reminder of the damage the Fijian and his new-found bulk can cause. But there were too many ordinary performances elsewhere. Fly-half Lamb played in fits and starts, and centre Anthony Allen like a man with his head elsewhere – Leicester perhaps? The scrum was inconsistent, which was no surprise given the number of changes made to the front row with both Nick Wood and Olivier Azam coming off and going back on.
It would be too easy to blame it on the fringe players out wide, including youngster Charlie Sharples and Foster, who came in to play their first games for a few weeks and were always going to look off the pace. Matthew Watkins, a favourite of head coach Ryan, never looks likely to break any game.
The Saints took four minutes to get off the mark through a Stephen Myler penalty, before Paul Diggin scored the first of his brace of tries on 10 minutes after Northampton's first meaningful attack.
Wood was the unlikely source of the response, charging down a Lee Dickson kick and scoring on 15 minutes.
Then came Hartley's try and two more from Gloucester before the break, through James and Foster. Only Myler's kicking against Lamb's missing kept the home side in front.
A tight second half had featured only one penalty each and a sin-binning for Andy Hazell, until Reihana went over for a well-deserved try on 77 and Diggin finished the mauling off with the last play, securing the bonus point.
The Cherry and Whites drop out of the top four, but can seek solace in the fact that the others all have to play each other. Three games to save their season in eight days, starting a week on Saturday at Twickenham.
Northampton Saints: B Foden; P Diggin, J Ansbro, J Downey, B Reihana (capt); S Myler, L Dickson; S Tonga'uiha, D Hartley, E Murray, C Lawes, J Kruger, N Best, S Gray, R Wilson. Reps: B Sharman (Hartley 66), T Smith (Tonga'uiha 75), I F Lobbe (Lawes 61), M Easter (Wilson 71), A Dickens (Dickson 78), B Everitt (Myler 75), C Mayor (Downey 79).
Scorers – Tries: Diggin 2, Hartley, Reihana. Cons: Myler 2, Everitt 2. Pens: Myler 4.
Gloucester Rugby: O Morgan; C Sharples, M Watkins, A Allen, M Foster; R Lamb, R Lawson; N Wood (back on for Somerville 64), O Azam (back on for Lawson 79), G Somerville, W James, A Brown, A Strokosch, A Qera, G Delve (capt). Reps: S Lawson (Azam 55), C Nieto (Wood 47), M Bortolami (James 70), A Hazell (Strokosch 21 sin-bin 54), G Cooper (Lawson 72), O Barkley (Allen 47), C Spencer (Lamb 47).
Scorers – Tries: Wood, James, Foster. Cons: Lamb 2. Pens: Barkley.
Referee: A Small (RFU). Att: 13,426
Comment on this story