Ryan thrilled with young guns
Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:06
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan was happy with the way his young guns performed in a five-try demolition of Bristol on Friday night.
Flank Peter Buxton got two tries in the 39-10 victory while full-back Olly Morgan, lock Alex Brown and fly-half Ryan Lamb added the others. Lamb also chipped in with 14 points from the boot.
Gloucester had 13 internationals in their 22 squad for the match but Ryan said: "We have also got six away on international duty. It is not about having the 13 players here, it is the three or four who have taken their chance and made it difficult for them when they come back.
"For 50 or 60 minutes, we were excellent and they (Bristol) did not have an answer to it. It was a crucial time.
"Playing a side like Bristol, you have to be ahead after 60 minutes and, if you have not got a good lead, you have not shaken them off.
"Bristol are a tough side around the contact area and it looked like they worked on that for this game."
Bristol head coach Richard Hill admitted his side were beaten by the better team as they look to take more points than Newcastle in their 'mini-league' this season.
Hill said: "They were very good and everytime they got within scoring distance, they scored. If they have not been in form before this match, they were today. We have to draw a line under this one because last year we lost 27-0 here and then won our next match."
Former England scrum-half Shaun Perry, continuing his comeback from a longstanding injury, came on for the second-half and made an impact.
Hill added: "That was only his second game this season and it would have been difficult for him to play at that intensity from the start. We didn't think he could do it for 80 minutes but he will start next week against London Irish.
"I see it as a little mini league between ourselves and Newcastle and we are about even at the moment. We were hoping that we would get a point from Gloucester and next week we would hope to get points and keep up a little gap (on Newcastle)."
And, as far as Bristol's announcement during the week that they were after an investor who could pump £2million into their coffers, the coach added: "If someone comes in early, that's terrific.
"You look at this stadium (Kingsholm) and the grounds here and that's where we want to be."
With thanks to www.guinnesspremiership.com
