“It Would be a Massive Achievement in Itself”: George Skivington on the Upcoming Fixture Against Leicester Tigers

Gloucester Rugby will face Leicester Tigers this weekend. Despite losing to Bath Rugby at Kingsholm last weekend, George Skivington remains ambitious for the next fixture.

The Cherry and Whites started the season with a similar story to last season, losing to Saracens but saw a glimmer of hope in the win against Bristol Bears. That hope was soon extinguished with a back-to-back loss against Sale Sharks and Bath Rugby.

“We are trying to grow our game. We know we’re going to have moments like we had against Bath, and there’s a few moments that killed us. But, it doesn’t take the pressure away from winning; it doesn’t mean we’re happy to go ‘oh we’ll get there in the end’. You’re still devastated by the loss.”

Gloucester have beaten Leicester their last two fixtures, one of which saw them winning the Premiership Cup - adding silverware to the cabinet for the first time in eight years. “I don’t think the pressure it there to beat Leicester back-to-back, the pressure is always to win.”

He followed by reminiscing about last seasons performance, “It was obviously a good day for us. We were brave that day in how we played, and how we approached. We were coming off winning the Premiership Cup, there was quite a lot of emotion emotion around that, and I was really proud with how the lads backed it up the following week.”

He then spoke about the test he faces against Tigers head coach, Michael Cheika, “He knows what to do, he’s done it many times. He’s, no doubt, got a good plan.”

“I thought Leicester were very good, they dominated some key statistical parts of the game and looked very strong.”

Starting the week of training with the weight of a loss has an impact on the team but they’re determined not to let that deter them from the fight of the next fixture.

“That was a special win last year, it doesn’t happen every often, I think we’d like to repeat it. If we could go back-to-back beating Leicester it would be a massive achievement in itself.”