Ryan rues costly errors
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:32
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan admitted his Gloucester side had 'panicked' as they slipped to a disappointing pre-season defeat against Bayonne.
Despite three Willie Walker penalties, Gloucester went down 9-30 in France and now have only one pre-season game remaining against Glasgow before the start of the Guinness Premiership.
"For 50 minutes we were organised and played within the structure we had talked about," Ryan said.
"Our 9-0 lead could have been grown out even further, but we then made two or three silly errors, missed a tackle here and there and our reaction to that was panicky.
"We had to try and create things we had not worked on and when you do that in France you get picked off. For 50 minutes it was pleasing but there can be no excuses for mistakes, whether you are a youngster in this environment for the first time or an experienced international.
"When you play for
Gloucester it is about operating at a high level consistently and in that respect we should have been more competitive.
"But Bayonne are considerably further down the line than us in terms of preparation and we have never moved away from the fact that pre-season is about trying new players and new combinations.
"I would never offer that as an excuse because there are things to work on but we can move on from this and prepare for our next game."
Gloucester lost hooker Ross McMillan, while Ryan Lamb missed the game through illness.
Scorers:
For Bayonne:
Tries: Deen, Peyras 2, Inigo
Cons: Larrechea 2
Pens: Larrechea 2
For Gloucester:
Pens: Walker
Teams:
Bayonne squad:
Forwards: Pierre-Philippe Lafond, Aretz Iguiniz, Rodney Blake, Denis Avril, Julian Fiorini, Arnaud Heguy, David Roumieu, Mikaera Tewhata, Nicolas Lafitte, Rob Linde, Cédric Bergez, Julien Puricelli, Jean-Joseph Marmouyet, Rémy Martin, Marc Baget, Guillaume Bernad, Jacques Deen.
Backs: Johnny Howard, Mickaël Lopez, Cédric Garcia, Manny Edmonds, Daniel Larrechea, Vincent Inigo, Thibault Lacroix, Dwayne Gower, Ben Fall, Filimone Bolavucu, Benjamin Lhande, Sam Gerber.
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Matthew Watkins, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 James Forrester, 7 Alasdair Strockosch, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Will James, 3 Dave Young, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Jack Forster, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Guy Thompson, 20 Dan Williams, 21 Gareth Cooper,
22 Willie Walker, 23 Anthony Allen, 24 Mark Foster
Referee: Christophe Berdos
