The Ugly
JV Smith is a local and international legend in rugby. His exploits are well recorded. I contacted Gloucester RFC to remind them that JV had passed away at the age of 95 on Friday 17th September. A man that had set a 30 year record for England and was President of the RFU as well as many other achievements. I asked that he be remembered with a minutes silence. Richard Smith, Finance & Operations Director, responded with “Unfortunately, we are not able to hold a minute’s silence at the game on Friday, but he will be in our thoughts.” This is a club that is telling the members/fans/supporters they want to recognise the heritage of rugby in Gloucester. JV actually played for GRFC in one game! He was the oldest surviving English Rugby Player and contributed hugely to local rugby in Gloucestershire. I will never forgive or forget GRFC treatment of such a legend. Rest in Peace J V Smith and thank you for all that you did. At least the RFU remembered him. https://www.englandrugby.com/news/article/remembering-j-v-smith
The Bad
I confess, I haven’t visited The ‘Holm for some time. This is my choice and not something I expect anyone else to follow. Several seasons ago ticketing changed. I am “self-employed” and can usually only decide whether I can go to a match a few days in advance. There were no issues, we had “early bird” ticket options that enabled me to get a discount as long as I purchased a ticket no less than 2 days in advance. All of a sudden that changed and “early bird” became a 2 week decision process. That wasn’t something I could decide that long before a game. My work isn’t that flexible. Not just that but tickets were going to be graded, A to D. All of a sudden a ticket I could have paid £25 for had gone up to £45. That’s one hell of an increase. So I decided I would spend my money on BT Sport and a 45″ whizz bang TV. There are those that may think this means I am not really a dedicated “fan”. That’s their opinion. While I may not visit The ‘Holm I have done many away games including plenty of European trips. I have my credentials. Unfortunately that means that a lot of what I hear is now only word of mouth. £5 pints. £2.50 cans of coke. £6 burgers. Difficulties in returning deposit cups. That’s without reports of membership fees not being refunded and so many other problems being caused for fans such as a £180 increase in tickets for disabled supporters. Is this true? Really Glaws?
I believe the last Prem, pre-covid home game for Glaws was Friday 28th February 2020 when 13,370 turned up for a game against Sale, 574 days previously. So, let’s be honest, the first home game after almost 600 days away, Friday night under the lights. Surely a capacity crowd? 11,640. Near 5,000 below capacity. Huge swathes of empty seats. 5,000 not buying drinks or burgers on top of unsold tickets. Seems I’m not the only one voting with my feet. From my records you have to go back to 28th April 2018 for the last capacity crowd. Martin St Q is this really what you wanted? You think it sounded good on Friday? Imagine how it would have sounded with an additional 5,000 fans!! Imagine how much more money you would have taken if you weren’t trying to rip people off. You might like to have a chat with Lance about that.
The Good
It was a difficult night to watch Glaws. It seemed to be we would go the way of our trip to Saints. It seemed we were determined to set a new record for penalties against, one every minute. Soon enough we tightened that up and, actually, Tigers gave away 3 more penalties than us. There was some criticism that we went to the set piece rather than kick for points and that we might well have edged it had we done so. Personally, only my choice you understand, I loved seeing the lads back themselves. And our forwards were in the ascendance with Tigers losing 50% of their scrums. Our Line Out was also so much better this week, no doubt as a result of the return of Slater. Yes, far too many unforced errors. Apparently 17 missed tackles (personally I thought there were that many against Nadolo but who could not forgive that, he’s like the slightly smaller version of Lomu!! He’s also a genuine utility player who’s happy at 3/4s and can actually kick a goal from 50m. I think most of these errors were as a result of the lads, if anything, trying too hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLylk_3vTdg
Tigers are a very effective unit this season so far. They trounced Chiefs, past Prem & Euro champs, who didn’t take a point from them. We took 2. We ARE still building. We ARE still short of key starters, L R-Z, Harris, the Pumas, Polledri to name just 6. Yes, 6 internationals. And we have an embarrassment of riches in the back line so where does Skivs start there? Chiefs took several seasons to climb to a dominant position. Of course Sarries & Bears did it a different way, cheque book rugby. We know StQ wont play that game. So it’s left to Skivs to create what he can. Admittedly he’s still new to this, but I actually like what I see and still believe we can achieve top 6 this season. I believe we have some of the best Prem players at Glaws, including previous dark horses such as Davidson, Reid & Moyle; guys that fit StQ’s budget but have delivered.
So, yes, now, and for the last 25 years, a Kingsholm man, come rain or shine. But that doesn’t mean I have to put a penny in StQ’s pocket or kiss Bradley’s arse. I mean, after all, he wont even meet me for a coffee 😉
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