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'Immensely proud' Alex King on the most pleasing aspect of win over Sarries
By PA
Gloucester attack coach Alex King was overjoyed as his side illustrated their huge improvement this season by winning at Saracens for the first time since November 2008 with a deserved 25-24 success.
Since their last victory at Saracens’ old ground Vicarage Road, Gloucester had lost 12 and drawn the other in 13 visits to their Premiership rivals with the last three meetings seeing the West Country side concede a mammoth 144 points -including a 62-12 defeat.
However tries from Fraser Balmain, Jack Singleton and Lewis Ludlow saw them turn the tide with Adam Hastings adding two penalties and two conversions.
Saracens outscored their opponents in terms of tries by scoring four through Dom Morris, Rotimi Segun, Theo McFarland and Alex Lewington. Alex Lozowski converted two but also missed a simple conversion – as well as a late touchline effort – which ultimately proved costly.
King, whose side fought back after conceding 14 points without reply and losing two players to the sin-bin midway through the first half, said: “I’m immensely proud of the boys to come here and win for the first time in 14 years.
“Today against of one of the leading sides in the Premiership was a real test for us to show where we are at.
“You’ve got to play smart rugby against a side as efficient as Saracens and our kicking game today was spot-on.
“The most pleasing part of the game was how we managed the sin-bin period. Going down to 13 men could have seen the game go completely away from us.
“Games will smack you in the face at various times but it’s how you respond to that is what matters and today was a really important win for us.”
It means that Gloucester are unbeaten in their last five away games, a feat which they have not achieved since November 2006.
Despite their defeat, Saracens remain in second place in the Premiership after picking up two bonus points but they could lose ground on unbeaten leaders Leicester, who face Wasps on Sunday.
The bonus points were scant consolation for Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, who was unhappy with his side’s efforts.
He said: “We are massively disappointed and it pains me to say it but Gloucester had more energy and appetite for the fight.
“They were tremendous today and it’s a club on the up who showed terrific spirit.
“We were off today and our ill-discipline gave them too many opportunities to use their driving line-out, which was a huge weapon for them.
“It’s a big lesson for us today but we’ve now got a week off so we’ll have a think about what happened and hopefully learn from it.”
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Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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