Gloucester are back says Ryan
Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:41
Celebrations: Gloucester are through
After watching his side secure a vital win at Vicarage Road, Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan said that the Cherry and Whites were back to their best.
Anthony Allen, Olly Morgan and Lesley Vainikolo scored tries to take Gloucester up to fifth, a performance that had Ryan full of praise for his team.
"We've played very well today and I felt like we were back to the Gloucester of old," he said.
"Olly Morgan has taken his try extremely well and Anthony Allen slotted straight back in.
"He is a player who knows the Gloucester way and we haven't played that way until today, even when we won, so I'm very happy to be back to that."
Allen, absent from the Gloucester side since injuring his ankle against Leicester on the opening day of the season, crossed to set Ryan's men on their way after 24 minutes.
Ryan Lamb and Glen Jackson exchanged kicks early on and although Ben Skirving pegged the visitors back, Morgan gave England manager Martin Johnson something to consider as he broke decisively to score 10 minutes after the break.
Vainikolo extended the advantage and although Eddie Jones' men hit back with a penalty try on 70 minutes to set up a grandstand finish, they could not prevent their first home league defeat of the season.
After seeing his side fail to capitalise on their scrum, Jones appealed to the officials for a more consistent approach to the game.
"The scrum is a difficult area of the game to manage," he said. "But today we dominated it without getting the reward we were due.
"I just feel that if people are penalised for persistent fouls in other areas of the game then the same should be true of the scrum.
"Ultimately it's about consistency and I didn't feel we get that at the moment with one of our strongest areas."
Have they turned the corner? Let us know...
