Caolan Englefield: We need to be more aggressive in defence
Caolan Englefield remains confident Gloucester can plug sufficient holes in their leaky defence to stun the Tigers again in their Welford Road lair.
George Skivington’s men have shipped a painful 162 points in their opening four Premiership games – an average of over 40 a game and the worst of any of the top flight clubs.
The Cherry and Whites are proving as soft and welcoming in front of their own line as they are sharp and tasty near the opposition’s.
And it has turned sour since the fine opening win at Bristol with each of the eight tries conceded in the agonising 55-31 home loss to West Country rivals Bath leaving a bruise to morale.
Gloucester will certainly need to toughen up their defensive mojo for the visit to a Tigers outfit with a spring in its step from the fine win over Northampton Saints.
Taking confidence from last season
But Englefield feels the memory of last season’s 27-25 win there can help their cause and the scrum-half claims:
“We’re fully aware of the challenges that will come our way on Sunday but we put in a strong attacking performance at Welford Road last time and got a good result.
“So we’ll take real confidence from that memory into this contest.
“Leicester’s game plan hasn’t really changed over the years. It’s about having a really big pack, squeezing you and putting you under pressure with their kicking game.
“Last season we put in a good attacking performance but we will need to defend a lot better than we have so far this campaign.
“It’s time for a shift in defence attitude. We can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot and make it too easy for teams to score tries when they get close to our line.
“We did work hard on our attack in pre-season – and I’m not saying we neglected defence completely – but the focus was on the attacking side of things.
“Now, we need to be more aggressive in defence and put pressure on the opposition to make really good decisions to get through us.
“It’s down to the half-backs to manage the game better and there’s no need to throw the ball around in defence and play high risk rugby.
“The backs have spoken about how we can assist the forwards in defence and by getting our stuff in order and allowing them the confidence to just go out and bang people.”
Tomos Williams
Tomos Williams’ arrival from Cardiff in the summer certainly changed the Kingsholm picture for Englefield who has had to accept a place on the bench while the Wales star shows off his outstanding talent.
Yet Englefield, who should have starts in the Premiership against Newcastle next weekend and also in the Premiership Cup games while Williams is away on Autumn Test duty, insists: “Tomos has been unreal so far. I’ve been really impressed with what he has done so far and I’m sure will rip it up for Wales.
“He is the best No.9 I have worked with in the squad and I’m learning stuff from him.
“It’s been a bit different for me because I had a really good season last time and now it’s just about managing my own expectations.
“I have to realise I have a different job to do for the team, whether that’s coming off the bench and closing a game out or trying to inject some pace and energy to get a result.”
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