BROWN: IRISH MAULIUNG WAS WAKE-UP CALL
Gloucester rugby's 42-12 defeat to London Irish before Christmas served as a "wake-up call", believes second-row Alex Brown. And having received that, and improved in the 29-10 win at bottom-placed Bristol, the lock, capped thrice for England, hopes that on Saturday third-placed Gloucester can dispatch Saracens, who edged out Irish 16-13 last weekend.
"We were happy with the bonus-point win over Bristol - to get that at the Memorial Ground is never easy," said the 29-year-old. "They are a good side, even if the table does not reflect that. It was quite close in the game, up until the last 15 minutes, and then we opened them up a bit and did well to get the bonus point.
"It was important to get a result after the disappointing game against London Irish. They played very well at the Madejski but we had two good games against Calvisano before that in the Heineken Cup. We beat them twice but maybe we lost to Irish due to the fact that before them we were playing a weaker team and we allowed them to play too much. We can't be doing that as when the better teams come along we will be punished.
"We let in some very poor tries. But hopefully that was the wake-up call that we needed. It provided us with the realisation that we are capable of being beaten by lots of points and that we need to keep doing things right. Though the score did not look pretty and we were affected by a few late tries in that game, we know that we didn't do a lot of things right."
Brown knows that January will be a crucial month for Gloucester, and continued: "It is a huge month for us - it will decide a lot of things for our season. It will show whether we progress in Europe or not. The two games, against Biarritz away and Cardiff Blues at Kingsholm, are massive.
"In the Premiership we are playing Newcastle Falcons after Sarries. While Newcastle are struggling Saracens are flying high, so it is not going to be an easy month at all. It will probable etch out our season."
And on Saturday's visitors Brown added: "Sarries at home is always tough and when we played against them earlier in the season we were pleased with the 25-21 win, which we only just achieved. They will aiming for revenge and will targeting us after the loss to Irish. It is going to be interesting.
"Saracens have a pretty formidable forward pack - even if England captain and second-row Steve Borthwick is rested because of the Elite Player Squad rules. In particular they have a good front-row and a great scrum. It is going to be a very tough weekend, that's for sure. But we will have the Kingholm factor, which is always a big plus for us. We put a lot of things right after the Irish defeat and hopefully we can continue that at the weekend.
"There is underlying pressure on us to get a trophy this season which is increased by the media because we seem to lose in so many finals. That pressure is there, though, there is no point in hiding that fact. The simple fact is that we have not won. Since we won the Challenge Cup in 2006 there has been nothing, even though we finished top of the Guinness Premiership in the past two season. That has been very disappointing and something we have change that."
Gloucester rugby's 42-12 defeat to London Irish before Christmas served as a "wake-up call", believes second-row Alex Brown. And having received that, and improved in the 29-10 win at bottom-placed Bristol, the lock, capped thrice for England, hopes that on Saturday third-placed Gloucester can dispatch Saracens, who edged out Irish 16-13 last weekend.
"We were happy with the bonus-point win over Bristol - to get that at the Memorial Ground is never easy," said the 29-year-old. "They are a good side, even if the table does not reflect that. It was quite close in the game, up until the last 15 minutes, and then we opened them up a bit and did well to get the bonus point.
"It was important to get a result after the disappointing game against London Irish. They played very well at the Madejski but we had two good games against Calvisano before that in the Heineken Cup. We beat them twice but maybe we lost to Irish due to the fact that before them we were playing a weaker team and we allowed them to play too much. We can't be doing that as when the better teams come along we will be punished.
"We let in some very poor tries. But hopefully that was the wake-up call that we needed. It provided us with the realisation that we are capable of being beaten by lots of points and that we need to keep doing things right. Though the score did not look pretty and we were affected by a few late tries in that game, we know that we didn't do a lot of things right."
Brown knows that January will be a crucial month for Gloucester, and continued: "It is a huge month for us - it will decide a lot of things for our season. It will show whether we progress in Europe or not. The two games, against Biarritz away and Cardiff Blues at Kingsholm, are massive.
"In the Premiership we are playing Newcastle Falcons after Sarries. While Newcastle are struggling Saracens are flying high, so it is not going to be an easy month at all. It will probable etch out our season."
And on Saturday's visitors Brown added: "Sarries at home is always tough and when we played against them earlier in the season we were pleased with the 25-21 win, which we only just achieved. They will aiming for revenge and will targeting us after the loss to Irish. It is going to be interesting.
"Saracens have a pretty formidable forward pack - even if England captain and second-row Steve Borthwick is rested because of the Elite Player Squad rules. In particular they have a good front-row and a great scrum. It is going to be a very tough weekend, that's for sure. But we will have the Kingholm factor, which is always a big plus for us. We put a lot of things right after the Irish defeat and hopefully we can continue that at the weekend.
"There is underlying pressure on us to get a trophy this season which is increased by the media because we seem to lose in so many finals. That pressure is there, though, there is no point in hiding that fact. The simple fact is that we have not won. Since we won the Challenge Cup in 2006 there has been nothing, even though we finished top of the Guinness Premiership in the past two season. That has been very disappointing and something we have change that."
Labels: Alex Brown, Gloucester, Guinness Premiership, Saracens
