Skivington playing it smart at Gloucester

GLOUCESTER are losing 19 players next month but George Skivington expects to have a bigger squad next season for the same amount of money.

- By PAUL REES

Zach Mercer, Santi Carreras, Chris Harris, Gareth Anscombe, Christian Wade and Ruan Ackermann are some of the big names leaving Kingsholm while Ross Byrne, Will Joseph, Jack Mann and Ben Redshaw are among those arriving with more signings to come.

“You have a budget for the squad and have to spend it wisely,” said Skivington, below, Gloucester’s director of rugby. “We have to balance the squad better than we have done previously and I think we have done that.

“We have to be smart. If you put big chunks into certain players you can get caught short. We have found ourselves stripped bare in a few places and the squad will be three or four players larger for the same money.

“We will have to work hard to upskill players to get them to be as good as some of the lads who are leaving, but we will get there. When clubs went bust a few years ago, we did not chase the big hitters but young players like Seb Atkinson, Caolan Englefield and Afolabi Fasogbon.

“We felt we could get them to a certain level — they cost you in the end when they do well, but that is fine.