Gloucester Rugby announced today that 19 players from their current squad will not be returning next season, with several key names now seeking new clubs. Director of Rugby George Skivington addressed the media to explain the reasoning behind the departures but stressed that his focus remains firmly on finishing the current campaign strong, rather than looking too far ahead.
“Yeah, I think the biggest challenge for us, I think probably next season, I’m not a massive fan of talking about next season when we’ve still got a bit to go. In summary, I think next season we probably go into a pre-season with an actual balanced game of rugby, if you like.
“You know, we’ve obviously swung the dial massively with attack, but I think, you know, I think we’ve certainly acknowledged when we’ve had our best games this season, we found that balance between attack, defence, kick and set-piece,” said Skivington.
“We haven’t found it a couple of times the last few weeks and we’ve been going for it. But I think we all, as a coaching group and playing group, we understand where that balance has got to be. You know, so we haven’t necessarily got to come in and it’s not the game plan that’s going to be the focus, which it was this year.”
After the weekend’s defeat to Harlequins, Skivington highlighted how disappointed the group was with the result.
“Yeah, we were gutted. It probably isn’t a strong enough word for how we felt Sunday, Monday. And Monday was a dark spot for us. There’s no pretending. No one came in. And, you know, I think as a director of rugby, you come in on a day like that and you definitely see how much people are hurting.
“And I think if there is a silver lining from Saturday, it’s the fact that I saw staff players absolutely gutted. And, you know, I think we had to sort of pick ourselves up a little bit once we’d addressed where we went wrong. Everybody understands the opportunity missed and you can’t get it back now.”
