Munster's win prepares Glaws for the real thing
BR - food for thought
By Cherry Picker
August 28 2010
Having shown in two pre-season wins that they know how to win games, Gloucester have demonstrated in their third that they also know how to keep at it when the going gets tough, and even a 15-10 defeat at Munster on Friday night offers many positives for Bryan Redpath and his players as next weekend's big kick-off at Exeter looms.
It was always going to be Gloucester's most difficult friendly game, and Munster made sure that was the case in front of a passionate crowd.
It was a real test not only for Glaws, but also for Munster, who scored two good forward tries to take the win after Glaws had lead for a long time.
Tim Taylor's individual try, which he converted, put Glaws in the driving seat - but Munster reacted well and spent much of the rest of the game staging a fightback.
It was a real backs-to-the-wall situation for Glaws, and as a pre-season test it could almost have been scripted for Redpath, because he knows there will be more games where this one came from as the season unfolds.
Going to Munster, even for a friendly, is always a tough proposition - the sort of proposition Glaws will come across time after time over the next nine months.
Starting at Exeter at the weekend.
The Chiefs will be busting for a good start after promotion and the test they are going to provide got a preview on Friday night.
Glaws might have lost, but they played well at times - attacking when the chances came, looking inventive and pacy with the ball, and defending well under pressure.
Over the three pre-season games, they might not have looked like world-beaters, but they look a lot better than they did at this stage a year ago.
So, that's the pretend stuff out of the way.
Now for the real thing.
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Why do you bother mate, Glaws fans do not use this site, not in the same way the other teams use their sites do.
And you qualify as that nobody.