Gloucester head coach George Skivington felt his side was “outstanding” in their 34-19 win over Northampton Saints in the Premiership on Saturday.
The win sees Gloucester climb into the top four on the table, a welcome birthday present for the coach, who was celebrating his 40th birthday on the day.
Making a point
Skivington admits his side was trying to make a point after their poor performance against Newcastle in their previous home game.
“I thought the boys were outstanding tonight,” Skivington said.
“Obviously, in our last Premiership game here, against Newcastle, we were very disappointed with what we put out on the field and I think that’s probably the first time we’ve done that in a couple of years.
“The boys wanted to make a point, they wanted to give something back to the supporters and just make that right.”
Los Pumas star Santiago Carreras shone at fly-half, a position he excelled in during the 2022 Test season but has rarely played for Gloucester.
Skivington heaped praise on the playmaker who showed impressive versatility to power his side’s attack.
“Santi came back and did two days with us last week and we put him at 10 because he’d been playing 10 (for Argentina),” Skivington said.
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“He hasn’t trained a day at 10 pre-last week and I think this week he really knuckled down and understood the system from that role, rather than from deep, where he’s been playing before.
“But he’s a world-class player, he’s very diligent in what he does, it’s not luck and the boys really fed off that, and he got us on the front foot.”
Not clinical enough
Saints boss Phil Dowson was disappointed that his side failed to convert their opportunities again and lamented the poor discipline in the second period.
“I seem to be talking a lot after games about how frustrating it is, but again we gave ourselves lots of opportunities to score points and didn’t convert that pressure again,” Dowson said.
“Then in the second half discipline issues raise their ugly head again and we got on the wrong side of the penalty count, and a yellow card (for Lewis Ludlam).
“We are going to give penalties away at times, it’s then about how we recover from that, that we don’t give the next one away or don’t give the ball away after that.
“Not doubling up on errors and giving soft penalties away, or avoidable penalties, would be a good thing to focus on.
“We some really good stuff going forward and we’re very good at getting into the opposition 22, but when we’re there, we’re profligate with the ball.”