'Gutted' Skivington reacts to shock, play-off ending loss to Bath

Gloucester head coach George Skivington conceded that Bath had beaten his side at their own game as the visitors triumphed 33-24 before a sell-out crowd at Kingsholm.

The result ended any hopes of Gloucester progressing to the end-of-season play-offs as Bath won away for only the second time in the Premiership this year and for the first time in five years at Kingsholm.

Bath were indebted to an impressive performance from their pack by dominating the set-piece as they recovered from a 17-0 deficit to score three tries in 11 minutes and run out deserved winners.

Miles Reid scored two tries for them with Joe Cokanasiga and Sam Underhill also on the try-scoring sheet. There was also a penalty try award, with Ben Spencer adding three conversions.

Stephen Varney, Seb Atkinson and Santiago Carreras scored Gloucester’s tries, with Carreras adding a penalty and three conversions.

Skivington said: “It’s gutting as we played some really good rugby tonight but Bath beat us by playing our tactics from last year.

“It’s mixed emotions as in the first half we had a great start by opening them up with some delightful stuff, some of the best we’ve played all season.

“But Bath targeted our set-piece and succeeded in their aims as you can’t play without a solid scrum on a wet night, so it was a slow death for us in that second half as we couldn’t break out.

“The yellow card for Lewis (Ludlow) took the advantage away from us and put them right back in the game.

“We are missing a lot of big men at the moment but it’s the first time that we’ve been dominated in that area this season and we will have to assess how it happened.

“Missing two kicks at the end didn’t help but they weren’t straightforward in the conditions but the decisions to go for the posts were the correct ones.”

After a season of turmoil, Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan was overjoyed with a much-needed win as his side seek to avoid finishing bottom of the Premiership table.

He said: “It was a very good game, contested fiercely in all areas before a very passionate crowd.

“They started well but we missed a chance when Tom Dunn knocked on over the line but we kept our heads even though we were 17-0 down and stayed in the fight.

“As I said earlier in the week, we are two years behind Gloucester and we knew we needed to combat their driving maul as they have the most maul tries in the league.

“Gradually we got on top in the set-piece but there were still nervous moments at the end when we knocked on with two minutes to go and them missing two kicks.

“However that’s three bonus points in a row now so our attack is definitely improving and we are a pretty tight group, who have a firm belief in ourselves.”