Gloucester boss George Skivington admits Bath beat his charges with some of their own tactics in their 33-24 loss in the Premiership.
Friday’s defeat rules out any chance of reaching the play-offs for Gloucester, who lost to Bath at home for the first time in five years.
Target the set-piece
Skivington broke down the game and credited Bath for how they disarmed his side by targeting their set-piece. The coach also conceded that his team did not do well enough in the contact area.
“It’s gutting as we played some really good rugby tonight, but Bath beat us by playing our tactics from last year,” Skivington said.
“It’s mixed emotions as in the first half, we had a great start by opening them up with some delightful stuff, some of the best we’ve played all season.
“But Bath targeted our set-piece and succeeded in their aims as you can’t play without a solid scrum on a wet night, so it was a slow death for us in that second half as we couldn’t break out.
“The yellow card for Lewis (Ludlow) took the advantage away from us and put them right back in the game.
“We are missing a lot of big men at the moment, but it’s the first time that we’ve been dominated in that area this season and we will have to assess how it happened.
“Missing two kicks at the end didn’t help, but they weren’t straightforward in the conditions, but the decisions to go for the posts were the correct ones.”
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A good day for Bath
Meanwhile, it was a positive day for Johann van Graan and his Bath side, who have struggled in the South African’s first season at the helm.
He said: “It was a very good game, contested fiercely in all areas before a very passionate crowd.
“They started well, but we missed a chance when Tom Dunn knocked on over the line but we kept our heads even though we were 17-0 down and stayed in the fight.
“As I said earlier in the week, we are two years behind Gloucester, and we knew we needed to combat their driving maul as they have the most maul tries in the league.
“Gradually we got on top in the set-piece, but there were still nervous moments at the end when we knocked on with two minutes to go and them missing two kicks.
“However that’s three bonus points in a row now so our attack is definitely improving and we are a pretty tight group, who have a firm belief in ourselves.”