Cheltenham Tigers succumbed to a disappointing 36-0 loss at Welford Road on Saturday as Leicester demonstrated their promotion ambitions.
Cheltenham Tigers’ Grace Gillard, sat down with Park Life Sport to reflect on the defeat and revealed how the challenge of facing Leicester had a big impact on the result.
“Obviously I think with Leicester Tigers there one aim this season is to go straight up to the Premiership. They’ve got the team, they’ve got the facilities, they’ve got everything to go straight up, so I think on the bus journey, everyone was a little bit nervous, we weren’t sure who we were actually playing and you know we’ve never seen this team play before. I think we went out onto that pitch everyone was still really nervous and when we got the ball we kind of fumbled it and so never really got our set play going . And essentially we were defending for 60 minutes of the game, and so we never got to show them who we are as a team.”
Gillard was also keen to stress how the occasion was not like anything the Cheltenham players had experienced beforehand and this unfortunately had a negative impact on the performance.
“Just the pressure of playing in that situation, it’s very nerve wracking and Tigers you know had a big old crowd cheering for them and you know it’s not something we’re used to. We’re not used to playing in a big stadium like that. We can deal with pressure but dealing with essentially a Premiership team coming in, it’s incredibly nerve wracking and I think we let the nerves get the better of us.“
The Cheltenham Tigers face West Park Leeds in their next game on Saturday looking to bounce back and Gillard was optimistic that a good week’s training could have a positive effect on the game.
“I think will have a bit of analysis, obviously breaking down our lineouts as forwards because our lineouts weren’t on par with what they normally are. Hopefully, if we can perfect ourselves as individuals we’ll come together as a really good team on Saturday.”
