By Cherry Picker
February 27 2013

He's not giving any guarantees on the result, but Gloucester coach Nigel Davies is sure his team's performance at Bath on Friday night will be a lot better than the last time the two old rivals met.

Just a month ago, of course, Glaws were humiliated 32-5 at Kingsholm on the LV= Cup, a scoreline that has left deep scars in the squad, and in the stands.

Now, though, with Premiership points at stake it should be a different story.

Fresh from last weekend’s stuttering win over Worcester, Glaws should be up for the derby and Davies told the Citizen: "There are a couple of areas where we need to make some statements in this game, where we were second-best in the last one.

"I'm not going to talk too much about that, because we've got to turn up on Friday, and produce the goods on the field.

"I think after the Bath game in the LV=Cup, I didn't make too much of it, I skipped over it in certain regards, because we had to focus on a big game the following week.

"But we've been able to dip back into this week, and just remind ourselves where we were in that game and I think that's important. Bath came here and they did a job on us, and we'll respect them for that."

There are injury concerns to deal with before the game, but whoever lines up for Glaws will be expected to play a part in what is a revenge mission.

Davies says the players have been reminded how badly that LV= game went. He added: "We've been able to dip back into it, just remind ourselves about it, which is important.

"It's all about turning up in the local derby, and there's a lot of words that can be said, that don't really mean much.

"There's a mix of boys brought up in the area who understand it fully.

"The others have a good feeling for this derby now, understanding more what it means to supporters, especially after the reaction to our poor defeat.

"In one regard that might be a good thing.

"It's probably helped us to push on in our league form so far, and now we've got a chance to put that right."

He could well show the video of the Worcester win, too – let’s face it, Glaws did not look like a top four team last weekend as their last-gasp penalty try gave them a victory that should have been sewn up long before.

A defeat in that game would have been a real upset and Glaws know they can’t rely on luck digging them out of the mire again at the Rec.

Davies demands better as Glaws meet derby rivals again

Discussion started by Shedloads (IP Logged), 27/02/2013 11:21

Shedloads
27/02/2013 11:21

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