[HerefordShark]

Starting XV:

15. Luke James, 14. Arron Reed, 13. Joe Bedlow, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Alex Wills, 10. Rob du Preez, 9. Raffi Quirke; 1. Si McIntyre, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. James Harper, 4. Ben Bamber, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Jacques Verrmeulen.

Replacements:

16. Tadgh McElroy, 17. Ralph McEachran, 18. Tye Raymont, 19. Reuben Logan, 20. Ethan Caine, 21. Dom Hanson, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Tom O’Flaherty.

vs

15 Ben Redshaw
14 Josh Hatahway
13 Josiah Edwards Giraud
12 Max Knight
11 Ollie Thorley
10 Charlie Atkinson
9 Caolan Englefield
1 Val Rapava Ruskin
2 Seb Blake
3 Afo Fasogbon
4 Danny Eite
5 Matias Alemanno
6 James Venter
7 Lewis Ludlow (C)
8 Will Trenholm

16 Manaaki Boyle Tiatia
17 Dian Bleuler
18 Ciaran Knight
19 Josh Basham
20 Jack Mann
21 Callum Braley
22 Ross Byrne
23 George Barton

[RinTin]

12-13 lads in our starting 15 who could be considered part of our best possible 23. They need to show it here.

[SSR]

Ethan Caine in as flanker cover a bit odd unless we have injuries ?
Glos starting 15 pretty much first team without internationals ?
Could be a hard day at the office again.

[HerefordShark]

Anyone know if DdP is injured again or just rested for this one? Wouldn't have thought he needed resting after such a long time out.

[Olyy]

Ethan Caine in as flanker cover a bit odd unless we have injuries ?

Yeah, like honestly wtf are we doing here?

Logan covering lock, as well - a position he had never player before last week

We've got a few promising youngsters in the backrow who would benefit from the gametime - and also Birch who has been tearing it up at Caldy since returning from injury and is well worth another look as he's been playing lock

[Surbiton_Shark]

Like the look of our backs. Rob should get the backs moving and some ball to play with and Quirke always brings some spark to the party.

Quite looking forward to this having seen the team sheet following all the gloom!

[Bronzbronx]

It's on tnt 1

https://www.fanzo.com/en/tvguide/rugby- ... sport/8034

[dinogyro]

If we're on the telly, we normally play a crappy boring game and/or get stuffed.

[SSR]

by dinogyro » Thu Feb 19, 2026 9:40 pm
If we're on the telly, we normally play a crappy boring game and/or get stuffed.

We can do that if we are not on telly lately.

[Olyy]

Raffi out, Hanson starts and Warr on the bench

[Olyy]

Lineout really poor (wouldn't mind McElroy on for Vermeulen and Jibulu to 7 at half time, Jibulu going really well away from the lineout but terrible in it)

Scrum holding up well

Definitely throwing the ball about more, but issue is we look like we've never done that before so the lines and the passing are out of synch, so we're knocking it on or having to stop to catch passes not to the hands

Hanson looks decent, and RMW had some strong carries
Bamber continues to be a nuisance on the opposition throw

Defence poor for large parts - give us time to get set and we can make our tackles, but one or two quick passes and we completely fall apart

Most unsurprising news is discipline remains poor - number of dumb penalties and a yellow

Gotta ramp it up in the second half if we want anything - result, realistically, doesn't matter - but we need to be playing more cohesively than this

[Olyy]

I retract anything positive I said above,

Absolute garbage

[45jumper]

Wonder what Axe will come out with after this. It's clear as day the coaching is subpar, we desperately need experience there.

[Olyy]

FT 43 - 17

Most points Gloucester have scored this season
On the bright side it's not even top 5 most conceded by us this season, maybe things are looking up!

[SSR]

Might as well say it.
Sack the coaches, sell all the players, burn down the stadium. We're doomed I tell you.

[The Back Row]

56.4 points conceded on average in the last 5 games.

Only one of those games in teh Prem, the others in the two competitions we are 'Targetting'.

Going well.

[LJK]

Clearly another step on a downward trend...got to be stopped soon. Not much excuse this time with so many first team players on the field.
Don't understand why McElroy hasn't had more game time with us...when he has appeared he has looked good and his throws are def. better than Jibulu (and even LCD looking at the 6N game yesterday!). Jibulu on the bench and can cover back row maybe.
On the positives Hanson looked good and quick hands, and Logan bashed some holes for the few minutes he was on.

[eBike]

The relevant facts / stats are here :-

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/match- ... team-stats

[Olyy]

Surprisingly close stats wise (believe England look better on the stats compared to Ireland yesterday, too...)

59% lineout success is diabolical though

[Clutch]

50% possession and we kicked much less than them. But we are perceived as a dull kicking team. Stats say otherwise, about the kicking anyway!

So what is the issue. We can be pretty useless ball in hand, for a start, and more than other teams we undertake the pointless carries before the box. All 9s want the ball in a certain area to box kick, so quick pass to the 1st pod of 3 and then box kick. All this is time in possession, it takes ages, and achieves very little. It skews the stats. It is all premediated, where as other teams may kick instinctively cause there is space, and that is a quicker process, meaning less time in possession achieving nothing meaningful.

Added to that the perception comes from when and why we kick. We'd kick with an 11 man overlap if it was in the area of the field where we are supposed to kick. All this needs to change if we are to masquerade as an attacking team next season!

[dinogyro]

We did have a couple of games where it looked like we were trying to get it wide and I thought it was working. Unfortunately, my addled brain can't actually remember when this was!