Optimism oozing from Gloucester's pre-season training

The end-of-season recriminations are a thing of the past, a review carried out by the head honcho has been acted upon, a squad of big-name players has left, there’s a new coach and a string of new players and promoted youngsters – Gloucester are looking forward to the start of the new season feeling confident they can improve on last season’s disappointing performance.

With just over a month to go to the start of the action, the reports from Gloucester’s pre-season training campaign are all upbeat and hopeful.
That’s exactly what we would all expect, of course – the day we start to hear downbeat stories from pre-season training is the day we REALLY have to start worrying.
The pre-season matches start with Andy Hazell’s testimonial game against Bath, and who better to judge how the pre-season is going?
He told the Citizen: "We are working harder than ever because everyone is so enthusiastic. It's not that we haven't worked hard before, but it really is an enjoyable place to be at the moment.
"We have changed a lot of the things were are doing, and some of the emphasis on the way we are looking to play. Everyone is doing things with a smile on their faces.
“With Bryan (Redpath - right) as head coach there's a whole new feeling about the squad."

We shouldn’t be tempted to regard that comment as veiled criticism of Dean Ryan, but perhaps the most telling phrases in those quotes are “an enjoyable place to be” and “doing things with a smile on their faces”.
Nobody would suggest for a minute that club rugby at Glaws is not a serious business, but there was a feeling last season that the overall approach was just a little too dour, a little too serious, with the possible result that flair players did not feel able to express themselves or to play their game.

If Redpath’s arrival in the Kingsholm hot seat means Gloucester will play a more expansive game, there will be no complaints from here.