Missed chances George is left to rue opportunities

DIRECTOR of rugby George Skivington was left to reflect on missed opportunities as Gloucester failed to secure a play-off spot despite a 41-26 win over a spirited Northampton Saints on Saturday.

- John EVELY

The bonus-point victory at a sold-out Kingsholm was not enough for them to overtake either Sale or Bristol, who both achieved final day victories to book away days at Leicester and Bath respectively in the semi-finals.

The Cherry and Whites finished in fifth spot, two points off the top four.

Teenage winger Jack Cotgreave scored a hat-trick of tries for Gloucester, with Christian Wade adding a brace.

Seb Atkinson and Tomos Williams were also on the try-scoring sheet, with Santiago Carreras adding three conversions.

Saints made 14 changes from last week's heroic effort in the Champions Cup final but still went toe-to-toe with Gloucester throughout and were rewarded with a bonus point thanks to tries from Tom Pearson, Tom Litchfield, Jonny Weimann and Iakopo Mapu.

Skivington said: "It was not our best performance today but we still got the job done.

"We went at it on a gung-ho basis in the first quarter and that played into their hands and they did a great job.