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Gloucester cut loose to bridge gap to Bristol
By Rob Lancaster
Gloucester scored 32 points without reply in the second half to crush Bristol Bears 35-13 at Kingsholm on Friday.
Charlie Sharples went over for a quick-fire brace of tries as the hosts rallied from a double-digit deficit to maintain their unbeaten start to the 2018-19 Premiership season.
Luke Morahan grabbed the only try for Bristol, Ian Madigan adding the conversion to a pair of penalties as the top-flight new boys led 13-3 at the midway stage.
Yet it was one-way traffic after the break, Gerbrandt Grobler barging his way over from close range before Sharples crossed twice in the space of six minutes.
After Ed Slater added a fourth try to secure a bonus point, Matt Banahan went over in the corner prior to the final whistle.
Billy Twelvetrees kicked 10 points as Gloucester got the better of their west country rivals to move top of the table ahead of the weekend fixture list.
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Latest Comments
I didn't mean to sound down on Dmac. Just looking hard at the bench sub's role of providing impact. I don't think he can do that at 15, and the bench is not really about injury cover anymore (you need to maximise it's use more than that).
He's my first choice of any New Zealander for the 10 jersey with the All Blacks.
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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