Glaws start to repay Redpath, but they owe the fans, too

Gloucester’s joint captain Gareth Delve says that he and the other players owed coach Bryan Redpath the second-half performance that turned round their Heineken Cup game against Glasgow from another embarrassing defeat into a face-saving victory at Kingsholm on Sunday. Well, we’ve got news for the players – they owe Redpath, and the fans, a great deal more than that.

So badly have Glaws under-performed this season that one good performance over half a game goes nowhere near repairing the damage done in so many matches previously this season.
And what better way to continue repairing that damage than in the Christmas and New Year games against local rivals Bath and Worcester?
Having got the season off to a promising start with the home win over Bath way back in September, chalking up a double against the old enemy when they meet at the Rec on December 27 would be just the job to cheer up Redpath and the fans even more.
Then beginning the New Year with a home win over Worcester on January 2 would help continue the recovery and put us all in good heart as we go into 2010.

But Delve’s admission that Redpath was owed a good performance  doesn’t even start to paper over the cracks which have been evident in Gloucester’s form so far this season.

And there are worrying signs which suggest there’s a long way to go yet – like the fact that Greg Somerville was left out of the starting line-up against Glasgow, yet made a match-winning difference when he went on early in the second half.
Was that down to the player need the jolt of being left out, or down to poor selection?
To be fair to Delve, he admits that beating Glasgow doesnlt go far enough to repay Redpath and adds that there is more to do.
He told the Citizen: “We definitely owe Bryan because he's behind us every step of the way. He's the guy who is copping a lot of flak, whether it be from the press or the supporters.
"He's the figurehead for the side and we owe him because he is protecting us from a lot of that flak.
“But we're not children, the time comes for us to take responsibility for our own performances. This week was a good step in the right direction and we need to take that to Bath now."
He's dead right there - win at the Rec and the fans, if not Redpath, will forgive a lot of things that have happened this season.

Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year from
SHEDLOADS