Still alive Gloucester grind it out to set up last-day clash

GLOUCESTER director of rugby George Skivington admitted his side’s 26-12 win over Newcastle was “not particularly pretty” but expressed his pride as they secured a crucial bonus point.

- John EVELY

Victory keeps the Cherry and Whites’ Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes alive as they move into fifth place in the standings.

Having lost to Harlequins last week, an important five points at Kingston Park keeps Gloucester in the mix for the top four and their play-off race concludes with a final-day clash against Northampton.

Skivington said: “I think there was a few opportunities in the second half, I think Newcastle are actually playing pretty well, I said that coming into the game - they've got some real threats.

“I think we were probably a pass away from scoring tries I don’t know how many times.

“The boys want to play, we're backing them to play, but there’s a balance there that if we want to get more tries, maybe use our set-piece a bit more.

“That's the pessimistic side of me where I think we could be better. The reality is we've come up here under a lot of pressure. We know the opportunity blown last week. We know we're hanging in there and hoping.