Desperate Gloucester look to topple wounded Bears

Bristol left many bewildered in Round 8 after they found themselves defeated by an impressive Sale outfit, 20-13.

Pat Lam’s charges had been cruising along merrily with six victories on the trot and were rightly confident of another one when Sale sprang a surprise, late in the game.

Gloucester’s poor luck continued as they crashed to a 32-26 defeat against London Irish at the Brentford Community Stadium in Round 8.

The loss was the Cherry & White’s seventh overall and sixth in a row as they continue to struggle.

This week, however, George Skivington’s charges have another shot at redemption when they host Bristol at Kingsholm.

A betting man would be hesitant to put his money on Gloucester, given their current form and the fact that Bristol would have received something of a bitter wake-up call last weekend which could spur them on into even more dangerous form than they were enjoying prior to the loss.

Despite said defeat, Bristol are still sitting pretty at number 1 on the overall standings, although Exeter Chiefs are closing in as the gap is now narrowed to just 2 points.

The last time the two teams met was in Round 15, with Bristol taking the honours 33-24:

Gloucester, who are now stone-last in the standings, need to consolidate and pull their campaign out of the fire. Whether they will be able to do so this weekend is doubtful, though it is as good a time as any.