By Matt Hardy
Pressure mounted on Gloucester Rugby head coach George Skivington this weekend as his side’s 38-20 loss at home to Leicester Tigers continued a losing run in the Premiership this season.
The Cherry and Whites have now lost five in a row and have won just three matches in the league across this calendar year.
It is a desperate situation for such a historic club to be in and they face playing out the rest of the year without another win on the board with matches against the likes of Northampton Saints and Clermont to come.
But their opponents this weekend, Bristol Bears, aren’t in hot form either with their 39-31 defeat to defending champions Saracens meaning they, too, are on a five-match losing run.
Last year’s finalists Sale Sharks look to be backing up a strong 2022-23 and are top of the league after a top of the table clash victory against Bath.
Sale were the underdogs going into last season’s play-offs but this year they’re one of the sides to catch, and their ability to mix a forward dominated game with the execution of back plays will likely see them mixing it come the end of the year.
Northampton and Harlequins showed how attacking rugby can be simply divine to watch on Friday night with their 36-33 battle won by the Saints in the east Midlands.
It was not a good match for either side’s defence coach but it demonstrated how exciting the Premiership can be when teams full of gusto are given licence to play.
And in yesterday’s solo match Exeter Chiefs came out 20-14 winners to leave Newcastle Falcons as the only winless side remaining in the league.
There’s a danger for those at the bottom of being left behind in a season that only has 18 fixtures due to the losses of London Irish, Worcester Warriors and Wasps last season.
The Premiership began with a slump in attendances, with numbers down by over 10 per cent on similar games from last season, and is now in an era of some of its traditional fan bases falling out of love with their clubs – such as Gloucester Rugby.
The league can’t seemingly catch a break at the moment as the two European cups approach next month.
Eight of the 10 sides will be in the Champions Cup with this year’s two strugglers, Gloucester and Newcastle, in the Challenge Cup.
And while the Premiership remains competitive at the moment, if those at the bottom cannot start winning then the 10-team league could decide its playoff teams with months to spare.
Here’s hoping some of the lowly teams buck up their ideas, and quickly.
