Hook on form for Gloucester

Mike Stanton reports from Kingsholm in Gloucester’s first pre-season friendly versus newly named Yorkshire Carnegie.

Gloucester welcomed Championship side Yorkshire Carnegie on Saturday 16 August and following a reasonably tight first half it was the Cherry and Whites who finished worthy winners, with a final score of 62-19 after a ten try haul.

It was the hosts who started the brighter of the two teams, with a try after just six minutes. The Gloucester backs showed their class, Billy Burns and company creating the space for winger Henry Purdy to cross the whitewash.

And ten minutes later it was Purdy again crossing the line, this time the forwards putting in the hard yards up front, Burns added the extras to give the Cherry and Whites an early 12-0 lead.

Carnegie closed the gap shortly after, firstly the pack mauling their way over the line and then adding a second try six minutes later following a Dave Doherty break before unleashing Chris Jones. A conversion from Joe Graham levelled the score at 12 apiece.

It was Gloucester however who took the initiative before the break. Billy Burns opted for the corner off a penalty and the pack once again showed their strength in the tight to allow Aleki Lutui to cross the line, Burns converted to make the scores 19-12 at half-time.

The second half saw a 15 man change around in the Gloucester ranks, including England winger Charlie Sharples and their new recruits Tom Palmer, Greig Laidlaw and James Hook.

The new signings were certainly on form. Gloucester scored moments after the restart, Scotland international Greig Laidlaw showed his experience in taking a quick tap to put Sharples away in the corner.

It was Lions and Wales star James Hook who stole the show in the second half. He showed a great variety to his play, standing flat and bringing Mark Atkinson on a short line before dropping deep and placing a deft kick deep into the oppositions territory. Atkinson is another new signing but well known to the TalkingRugbyUnion team having played his schoolboy rugby in the Northwest.

Hook soon crossed the line for his first try of the day, Gloucester generated quick ball which gave Hook the space to dart over the line. Laidlaw added the extras to give the hosts a 31-12 lead.

Next it was Laidlaw’s turn to cross the line, the scrum-half catching the Yorkshire defence napping to sneak in at the corner but was unable to add the extras.

Carnegie showed their spirit soon after however. A fantastic solo effort from replacement Christian Georgiou who got the ball in the wide channels before stepping the first line of defence and had the pace to beat Laidlaw’s cover defence to cross the line and convert his own try to bring the scores to 39-19.

Gloucester soon continued their dominance with a superb try from Steve McColl. Hook again standing flat before looping around his centres to recollect the ball off a deft Atkinson offload before fizzing a pin-point pass to allow the winger to cross in the corner and bring the scores to 42-19.

Hook crossed for his second soon after. The fly-half received the ball under pressure from a rush Carnegie defence, Hook however kept a cool a head and managed to wriggle past three defenders to break clear and dive under the sticks much to the admiration of The Shed.

Two more tries in the final ten minutes  from Dan Thomas and Rob Cook closed the book on a confident performance from Gloucester with a final score of 62-19.

With Hook, Laidlaw and Palmer all performing well for the Cherry and Whites it appears their big spending of the summer should pay off. Add to these three their recent addition of Welsh and Lions star Richard Hibbard to the mix to further bolster the pack as well as the likes of Billy Twelvetrees, Ben Morgan, Matt Kvesic, Henry Trinder and Jonny May to return from international duties with England and the men from Gloucester should be looking to put in a strong challenge this season.