The Cherry and Whites put in an incredible performance to secure some crucial points against back to back Champions Cup victors Bordeaux Begles. The Gloucestershire side drew 36-36 to the French giants in a game full of attrition.
After a tough season last year only winning three games at home in all competitions Gloucester needed a good start to their campaign. The summer transfer window helped push their momentum forward, the exit of Tomos Williams meant Dan Robson came in to fill the scrum half position as well as the Welsh duo Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan who have been named Captain and Vice Captain. Morgan expressed his disappointment in not winning the game after a flying start to the season.
“A little bit disappointed to not get the win at the end of the game. I know there’s probably a couple of opportunities ahead. We could have had that but, you know, hands out to all the boys for the effort they put into the game to be able to stick in there for the 80 minutes and get that result.”
Bordeaux tried an experimental approach against Gloucester, tighthead prop Ben Tameifuna wasn’t playing in his regular position on Friday night. Head Coach of Bordeaux Yannick Bru opted to put the Tongan international at second row. Ben gave his thoughts on the game and the opposition.
“It’s not a loss, but we will move forward from the game and obviously we’ve got a big game next week against La Rochelle. It was very dynamic and it was a competitive game. Gloucester are top of the table in the Premiership for a reason. They’re obviously a top team and we just missed too many tackles early in the first half. A team like Gloucester, the players they have, you can’t afford to give them that much space in the line.”
Embed from Getty ImagesTameifuna put in a good performance at Kingsholm but made some comparisons between the Pro14 and Champions Cup. Some of the officials late scrum calls were challenged by the lock.
“I felt like obviously the refereeing in the Top14 and the Champions Cup is a bit different, I felt like we were on the front foot there and maybe what I see is different to how the referee sees it and its just the way the game is and you cant really do much about it”
Both teams look forward to big fixtures this week, Bordeaux facing La Rochelle in Derby de L’Antlique (The Atlantic Derby) and Gloucester face Bath at Kingsholm which will be a tense battle.
