Style over substance for Gloucester

It’s fair to say that Gloucester have not been one of the more compelling teams to watch in the Aviva Premiership over recent years.

Sure, they have exciting players capable of producing moments of individual brilliance, but they have struggled to exhibit the consistency required to make those moments regular occurrences and that is one of the primary reasons behind their 8^th (2015/16) and 9^th (2014/15 and 2013/14) place finishes in recent seasons.

The early indications of the 2016/17 season suggest that a similar placed finish is likely in 2017, but there is an attacking frisson going on at Kingsholm and there’s a potential that’s clear to see. If they can iron out the creases in, well, almost every other part of their game, they are capable of moving up the table.

Where the Cherry and Whites struggled with single runners last season, often failing to break the gain line or seeing moves breakdown before they’ve begun, this year their ball-carriers are being given a number of options. At no point was this more evident than in the first half of the season opener against Leicester Tigers.

Gloucester attacked fluently in pods, with runners lurking on the inside and outside shoulders of the ball-carrier as well as, on occasion, a man lurking deeper, directly behind the carrier. Admittedly, the carriers were at times tentative, almost looking for the offload or option before they had even taken the contact. As time goes on and the players become more accustomed to the playing style, they will commit more to the contact, confident they have time after to free their arms and get the ball away.

David Humphrey’s men also kept their width well, ensuring they had multiple threats out wide, again with support runners at 45 degree angles behind the carrier on either side. It was in this fashion that Gloucester scored their opening try against Leicester and it’s not something that Cherry and Whites fans have been treated to with much regularity in recent seasons. In fact, were it not for solid scramble defence from Leicester in that opener and Worcester in their second game, Gloucester would have had two or three more tries in this fashion over the opening two games, not to mention two wins.

Both of these features of attacking play allowed Gloucester to cause Leicester all kinds of problems and saw them hold a remarkable 31-7 lead shortly after half-time. Unfortunately for the home side, not only did they push the self-destruct button five minutes after that, they mashed it with all the gusto of a father trying to beat his son at a video game for the first time.

That said, what Gloucester showed offensively is a cause for optimism among their fans.

Billy Burns has been at the heart of that attacking revolution, looking comfortable at 10 and effective running the back line. New signing Matt Scott has also impressed, scoring three tries in two games, whilst the back three of Charlie Sharples, Henry Purdy and Tom Marshall have flashed as well.

However, it’s certainly been a case of style over substance for Gloucester.

Not controlling the territory game because of an insistence to run it from within their own 22, set-piece maladies and defensive lapses saw them fall to that historic, 31-point comeback from Leicester and only able to snatch a draw against a 14-man Worcester side. It’s something which needs to be solved, lest the Cherry and Whites fall into a battle at the bottom of the table that they don’t want to be involved with.

Gloucester made the decision to part ways with Nick Walshe this offseason and academy backs and kicking coach Tim Taylor was promoted to senior backs coach. Decision-making and set-piece issues may have hurt Gloucester in those two games, but the work of their back line with ball in hand has been extremely encouraging and the impact of Taylor’s promotion seems to have been swift, as well as significant.

With Jonny May and Henry Trinder still to return to the group following injuries and youngsters such as Ollie Thorley and Mat Protheroe craving a chance, the Gloucester back line is a unit well worth watching as the 2016/17 season continues to unfold, even if the prospects for the team overall are still not great.