Better late than never......Well played Gloucester, real team performance.

If you didn't see the game then take a look on youtube.

Best performance I've seen from Gloucester in a couple of years. Everyone stood up which in itself was fantastic but for some guys was really great to see them bring their very best(Morgan showed he still has it).

Moriarty was ridiculous. Told you why he's been selected to go south.

La Rochelle are a curious side. First game I've seen of them and to be fair they were very naive and out thought by a really committed and well executed quick wide possession plan.

Also a mention has to go to the line men being employed in france right now - honestly these guys could play nfl, 25 stone plus....crazy.

Well played Gloucester, now go to Edinburgh and win.

As a defensive effort it was outstanding and the tackle count of the forwards, led by Morgan, was exceptional. What really impressed me was our tactics and planning for the set piece, in particular at the lineout. In the group game they tore us apart from the driving maul, but we just didn't let them settle and we nullified this tactic. Furthermore, we didn't lose a single scrum and each put in was fired straight out. As I mentioned elsewhere, you could get rather steamy eyed and hyperbolic and relate it to the glorious Glosters!

Nevertheless, if Brock James hadn't bottled it we wouldn't be in this position. We didn't really offer much in attack because we had so little possession, so I don't want to get too carried away. It was actually quite a relaxing game to watch as at no point did I think we would win and it took several hours for the result to settle in.

My tickets and hotel are booked for Edinburgh. We have never beaten Stade, but they have lost all their Euro finals, where we've won all ours. I see us very much as underdogs for the final, but as we're expected to have far more supporters this may just give us the advantage.

It'll be nice to welcome Matt Scott and wee Greig back to murrayfield before he goes off to Clermont. I'll be attending both games and despite being a Bath fan, I'll be hoping Glaws can pull this one off.

How many do you think will make the trip HKC?

It sounds like several thousand tickets have been bought already. All the category 1-3 seats have been sold, although the top tier isn't being opened. We do tend to travel quite well, so I'd expect a good turn out for the final.

Hopefully Scott and Laidlaw will give us the neutral voice too, although both are going to struggle to get back in the staring side as their replacements have been playing so well. Scott should return to fitness this week and he'll definitely get a game be it against Bath or Saints in the A league final.

Good to see that the tickets are so cheap - £30 - £10, more than half the price of the Champions Cup final.

Even still I can't see there being a crowd of more than 20,000 and I'd be amazed if the Champions Cup sells out given the teams in the final (i.e. no Irish!)

20,000 would be good for a Challenge Cup final. There was only about 10,000 for the Glaws Edinburgh final at The Stoop.

HongKongCherry wrote:20,000 would be good for a Challenge Cup final. There was only about 10,000 for the Glaws Edinburgh final at The Stoop.

I was there!

It was a good atmosphere because the stadium was small - 10k in a 67k stadium is pretty barren (as an Edinburgh fan I know this too well).

Saying that one of the better athmosphere's I've been at was Edinbrugh beating London Irish at Murrayfield to qualify for the HK quarter final - that was 11,800 from memory. The significance of the occasion and the performance by the team certainly helped the atmosphere!

I hope you guys don't hold that against us when we visit!

kingelderfield wrote:If you didn't see the game then take a look on youtube.

Best performance I've seen from Gloucester in a couple of years. Everyone stood up which in itself was fantastic but for some guys was really great to see them bring their very best(Morgan showed he still has it).

Moriarty was ridiculous. Told you why he's been selected to go south.

La Rochelle are a curious side. First game I've seen of them and to be fair they were very naive and out thought by a really committed and well executed quick wide possession plan.

Also a mention has to go to the line men being employed in france right now - honestly these guys could play nfl, 25 stone plus....crazy.

Well played Gloucester, now go to Edinburgh and win.

If Hardie had been playing for you then it would have been a 50 point clear win

munkian wrote:

kingelderfield wrote:If you didn't see the game then take a look on youtube.

Best performance I've seen from Gloucester in a couple of years. Everyone stood up which in itself was fantastic but for some guys was really great to see them bring their very best(Morgan showed he still has it).

Moriarty was ridiculous. Told you why he's been selected to go south.

La Rochelle are a curious side. First game I've seen of them and to be fair they were very naive and out thought by a really committed and well executed quick wide possession plan.

Also a mention has to go to the line men being employed in france right now - honestly these guys could play nfl, 25 stone plus....crazy.

Well played Gloucester, now go to Edinburgh and win.

If Hardie had been playing for you then it would have been a 50 point clear win

Jon Hardie is an openside flanker, who currently cannot dislodge Hamish Watson from the Scotland squad. Moriarty is a number 8 or a blindside flanker, and a damn good one at that.

WUM rating C- must do better.

Moriarty ain't an 8. Or is a poor one. Not good enough at carrying.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Moriarty ain't an 8. Or is a poor one. Not good enough at carrying.

I dunno, I rate Moriarty quite highly in the carrying stakes, might nor make a huge amount of ground, but he takes quite a few defenders out when he does, get the ball recycled quickly and there should be gaps to exploit. Certainly his tackling is pretty ferocious though.

Tackling s top notch.

His carrying is excellent. He hits the ball at pace and always gets over the gain line. He's without doubt the best Glaws forward at carrying. He started his career in the backs and you can tell this by his turn of pace.

So he just really struggles at international level then.

HongKongCherry wrote:His carrying is excellent. He hits the ball at pace and always gets over the gain line. He's without doubt the best Glaws forward at carrying.  He started his career in the backs and you can tell this by his turn of pace.

I agree with this, I don't know why he has a reputation as a weak carrier. For me he seems to make good ground through heavy traffic. He is alongside Faletau, the least contentious Welsh backrow selection for the Lions.

Never seen him carry well for wales. Well below par this 6Ns. Even his motm was down to stopping momentum rather than start it which I'd say is fair enough for a 6 with the right balance. He could work pretty well in a Tipuric vunipola with good jumping locks I suppose. Club to country can be night and day. Look at Harrison for saints and so far with england. Excellent to mediocre carrying.