Gloucester look to take the new Gallagher Premiership season by storm with a revamped forward pack and a high desire to win every single contact battle to bring back that hard rugby identity Kingsholm desires.
After a mass exodus of 19 players before the start of last season, Gloucester were caught having to rebuild a squad that had lost some key players including British and Irish Lion, Chris Harris and star man Santi Carreras. This exodus saw The Cherry and Whites have their worst start to a campaign in recent history but this offseason looked very different.
With two PREM cup games already in the books, Gloucester have got seven points out of a possible 10 and only lost to Bristol by three points at Ashton Gate. One big takeaway from the past two games has been the quality and drive of the forward pack. Gloucester hooker Seb Blake got a brace at home to Sale last weekend and the forward battle was easily won by Gloucester against both Bristol and Sale. Gloucester loose forward, Will Trenholm spoke about this new look Gloucester pack and the impact new forwards coach Brett Deacon has had on the side.
“This season we’re holding each other to account much more than we did last season. We’re going after putting respect back into the badge, we want to show the shed a new side of Gloucester, a new intense side, with Brett deacon coming in he’s really bringing the identity of a dominant pack. He’s really driving standards really hard, Skivs as well, we’re going after the behaviours Kingsholm wants to see, we want to be the hardest working group of lads this stadium has seen in a long time.”
“Last year we accepted a 90% good drill, we accepted a subpar lift or a ball to put caught at the chest but now with Brett Deacon coming in, it’s very on it with that ball being top, lifters releasing that jumper, we’re really going after detail and drill and that should relate into game for lineout percentage game.”
“We’re going really hard at the set piece and with the prem round the corner we’re looking forward to what we can achieve this year”
It is clear Deacon has had a big impact on this Gloucester side both on and off the pitch, but he’s not the only one. The Cherry and Whites have brought in a quartet of internationals to help bolster their ranks. Welsh duo Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan join the pack alongside Springbok Jean Kleyn and England international Dan Robson slots in at scrum half to replace departing club captain Tomos Williams. The four of them have a combined 87 caps as well as a world cup winner in Kleyn giving the Gloucester side some insane skill, experience and leadership.
Speaking on these arrivals Trenholm said “Jean Kleyn has heaps of experience, around the maul he’s been passing on his knowledge, Dan Robson has that touch of class you can tell he’s been around the block, with Dewi and Jac you have two guys who have captained internationally, one of which is a lion, what more could you ask for as a back rower.”
“I’m really excited to play with Jac, you see on the international stage the work he gets through, the difference between the leaders, is the level of detail they put into their training, it’s easy to come in on a Monday after a PREM cup game and just go through the motions, learn the moves, kind of float into it, Jac doesn’t float into anything he’s going 100% and he’s dragging lads with them.”
There’s a buzz around Kingsholm for this season and this group of players that has been missing for a while, it’s not just the big new signings that has the crowd excited however, players such as Trenholm have become huge fan favourites in Cherry and White for their desire, their passion and their heart on the pitch.
Trenholm himself has been a tremendous addition to the Gloucester side, his on the ball ability to win the contact battle over and over again without tiring is superb, defensively he’s a menace too, he always pops up in wide channels putting in crucial challenges as well as being straight over the ball to win the ruck jackal, something Gloucester utilise well, helping them win penalties and get their powerful driving maul in full flow. Trenholm has played rugby sevens for both England and Great Britian and he credits his time there with elevating his performances in the XV’s game.
“Sevens for GB and England was an amazing experience, I was a lot lighter but it really helped my skill set, you’re under a microscope in sevens and any mistake will be caught on by a much faster player, so it’s that one on one tackling and that ability to just catch pass.”
“Tackling was the big reason I went to play sevens, my academy manager when I was younger gave me the opportunity to go play sevens, my tackling wasn’t as good and its ‘still something I’d like to work on getting more tackle dominance but it gave me so much more confidence to tackle in wider channels and as a back rower I don’t have to just tackle big tight five players I have to tackle a centre that can step and be faster than me, and that’s how sevens helped me the most.”
Trenholm has developed into a key piece in the Gloucester puzzle and his ability and versatility both as a loose forward and being squeezed into lock is vital for George Skivington’s side.
So, what should you expect from Gloucester this season?
The Gloucester of last season is no more and this revamped Gloucester side will be sure to provide a lot more upsets than expected. There’s no hiding in the Gallagher PREM and Skivington’s men are no push overs, if Gloucester can return Kingsholm to the fortress it has been known to be then “castle grim” as it’s so eloquently called by the Gloucester fans will be a horrible environment for an away team to walk into.
“There’s no such thing as an easy game of rugby, you’re not going to go anywhere and have an easy time, we’re in the two hardest competitions in world rugby.”
“You take out what you put in, just because you’re playing against a Bourdeaux or a Stormers, you can’t have a different mentality, you have to go in it to win it, yes there are big names, yes there’s high paid players but it’s about how cohesive you can be as a unit.”
“End of last season, we had a good finish beating Exeter, who finished runners up. We took it to them and gave them a real good game and came out on top and that came from a big loss away to Bristol, and that is the switch that needs to flip for us our good performances can’t come from a reaction to a big loss we’ve got to be on it every game.”
“I want to go win a prem, to say it bluntly, we don’t play this game to come up short, we want to win a prem and we can’t accept anything subpar, it’s a whole squad effort, it’s not just the matchday 23, its realising as a whole squad, if you’re not picked your role is to prepare the lads as best as I can, you can’t have a sour taste in your mouth.”
Trenholm is set to be a big part of this new Gloucester side and if you aren’t familiar with his game, you will be after the end of the season, he’s a strong bull like ball carrier with quality in abundances and shouldn’t be too far off of Steve Borthwick’s radar.
Speaking on his international aspirations he said “right now I’m Gloucester first, the only chats I’m having is ones with the Gloucester coaches, their pushing me as hard as they can for Gloucester but they know I have international aspirations, I can only just focus on how I train and play and how hard I can push myself”.
