NARRAWAY HOPING TO MAKE IT THIRD TIME LUCKY
When Gloucester host London Irish in the Guinness Premiership's top-of-the-table clash on Saturday, home No8 Luke Narraway is hoping to make it third time lucky as captain. Club skipper Mike Tindall has missed the last two matches due to a dead leg, and - in the centre's absence - 25-year-old Narraway's team have lost to Cardiff Blues and Biarritz and been dumped out of the Heineken Cup.
Now out of Europe's premier competition and after three successive losses, the England international is determined to ensure the second-placed cherry and whites' season gets back on track this weekend - and to stop the ribbing from his team-mates who have joked that Narraway is destined to never win as their skipper.
"I've enjoyed being captain, it has filled me with pride," said the King's School Worcester alumnus, "but the boys have given me some stick, as my record is nought from two!
"This is my seventh season for Gloucester and I've come through the academy, so I know what Gloucester's all about. But we've got a great captain in Mike and I'm he's got more seasons in him yet. However if one day the opportunity arises, it would be a great honour to take on the captaincy full time.
"Everyone believes that we're good enough to go on and win this competition, and we've got the belief there, too. But confidence is a funny old thing in rugby and we are putting 110 per cent in, yet something's not quite clicking.
"We've just strayed off our lines a bit at the moment; we're struggling for a little bit of form and on the back of a few defeats this is where we really want to show our worth. This is where the squad is being pushed to the limit and we've got to show our mettle, grind out some wins and get us back on the road."
Narraway, who made his England bow in the last Six Nations, has been away with Martin Johnson's squad in Portugal this week, but he knows that the next month - while he and his international team-mates are on duty - will be crucial to his club side's hopes of attaining their first silverware since the European Challenge Cup three year's ago.
In February, Gloucester take on high-flyers Sale Sharks and Bath at Kingsholm, and Harlequins at the Stoop in between. The five-cap Red Rose continued: "We've got a lot of internationals going away to various countries and got a lot of injuries, but we're not using that as an excuse.
"The next month is massive. We're going to do everything in our power to make sure, before the Six Nations, we pick up as many points as we can and that we're still in the top four when the international guys come back. I hope the injured players come back to form so we're there with a full squad at the end of the season and the confidence is running high."
Narraway has hit out at those critics who reason that the Gloucester pack is too lightweight to dominate a game - he believes it is an easy get out for them, and that they are not fully appreciating the game that Dean Ryan is trying to utilise.
"The media have been going on about it for so long that people start to think it without actually saying what they're seeing," he said. "Guys from the pack are coming off with bumps and bruises, taking big hits but never seem to get the praise for it. It is annoying when you open up the papers and see people saying you're not physical enough. The way we play the game, we like to play with the ball. We're not a team that's going to go with forwards lining up and sometimes it's hard to impose a
physical and stereotypical forward game on the opposition."
Narraway believes that the Kingsholm factor will play a part if Gloucester are to overcome league leaders Irish, who defeated them 42-12 at the Madejski Stadium in December. "We pride ourselves on our home form and probably this year it hasn't been as good as we hoped," he added.
"Irish are a great team - they've been threatening to do what they've been doing this year for a couple of seasons. What they offer is an incredibly enthusiastic and aggressive way of playing, and a good kicking game on the back of that.
"In the last fixture we lost the cohesion up-front and ultimately our kicking game wasn't very good and they pinned us back and made us make mistakes. We've got to make sure, at home, our cohesion is there right from the off and we pin Irish back and maybe we can force the mistakes for once."
When Gloucester host London Irish in the Guinness Premiership's top-of-the-table clash on Saturday, home No8 Luke Narraway is hoping to make it third time lucky as captain. Club skipper Mike Tindall has missed the last two matches due to a dead leg, and - in the centre's absence - 25-year-old Narraway's team have lost to Cardiff Blues and Biarritz and been dumped out of the Heineken Cup.
Now out of Europe's premier competition and after three successive losses, the England international is determined to ensure the second-placed cherry and whites' season gets back on track this weekend - and to stop the ribbing from his team-mates who have joked that Narraway is destined to never win as their skipper.
"I've enjoyed being captain, it has filled me with pride," said the King's School Worcester alumnus, "but the boys have given me some stick, as my record is nought from two!
"This is my seventh season for Gloucester and I've come through the academy, so I know what Gloucester's all about. But we've got a great captain in Mike and I'm he's got more seasons in him yet. However if one day the opportunity arises, it would be a great honour to take on the captaincy full time.
"Everyone believes that we're good enough to go on and win this competition, and we've got the belief there, too. But confidence is a funny old thing in rugby and we are putting 110 per cent in, yet something's not quite clicking.
"We've just strayed off our lines a bit at the moment; we're struggling for a little bit of form and on the back of a few defeats this is where we really want to show our worth. This is where the squad is being pushed to the limit and we've got to show our mettle, grind out some wins and get us back on the road."
Narraway, who made his England bow in the last Six Nations, has been away with Martin Johnson's squad in Portugal this week, but he knows that the next month - while he and his international team-mates are on duty - will be crucial to his club side's hopes of attaining their first silverware since the European Challenge Cup three year's ago.
In February, Gloucester take on high-flyers Sale Sharks and Bath at Kingsholm, and Harlequins at the Stoop in between. The five-cap Red Rose continued: "We've got a lot of internationals going away to various countries and got a lot of injuries, but we're not using that as an excuse.
"The next month is massive. We're going to do everything in our power to make sure, before the Six Nations, we pick up as many points as we can and that we're still in the top four when the international guys come back. I hope the injured players come back to form so we're there with a full squad at the end of the season and the confidence is running high."
Narraway has hit out at those critics who reason that the Gloucester pack is too lightweight to dominate a game - he believes it is an easy get out for them, and that they are not fully appreciating the game that Dean Ryan is trying to utilise.
"The media have been going on about it for so long that people start to think it without actually saying what they're seeing," he said. "Guys from the pack are coming off with bumps and bruises, taking big hits but never seem to get the praise for it. It is annoying when you open up the papers and see people saying you're not physical enough. The way we play the game, we like to play with the ball. We're not a team that's going to go with forwards lining up and sometimes it's hard to impose a
physical and stereotypical forward game on the opposition."
Narraway believes that the Kingsholm factor will play a part if Gloucester are to overcome league leaders Irish, who defeated them 42-12 at the Madejski Stadium in December. "We pride ourselves on our home form and probably this year it hasn't been as good as we hoped," he added.
"Irish are a great team - they've been threatening to do what they've been doing this year for a couple of seasons. What they offer is an incredibly enthusiastic and aggressive way of playing, and a good kicking game on the back of that.
"In the last fixture we lost the cohesion up-front and ultimately our kicking game wasn't very good and they pinned us back and made us make mistakes. We've got to make sure, at home, our cohesion is there right from the off and we pin Irish back and maybe we can force the mistakes for once."
Labels: Gloucester, Guinness Premiership, London Irish, Luke Narraway
