Red Bulls take a deserved victory

Newcastle Red Bulls took a deserved 25-19 victory tonight at Kingston Park against Gloucester, sending the Kingston Park crowd mainly home happy.

Red Bulls fast start

For the first fifty or so minutes Red Bulls were by far the better and more dangerous team fully deserving their 15-5 half time lead. The Red Bulls forwards dominated their Gloucester counterparts and won the key physical battle. This was most evident in two maul tries from ex-Gloucester man George McGuigan and back row work machine, Tom Christie. Brett Connon takes a fair bit of stick at times but the kick he put into the corner for Christie's try was world class to be five metres out.

Gloucester did score a try through Ollie Thorley but in truth on such a poor first half showing, Gloucester were lucky to score that. Red Bulls in contrast had a weapon in the maul and also looked dangerous every time they went wide, looking to cut through the Gloucester defence and showing more signs of Stephen Jones' early work. In contrast, the Gloucester attack was predictable and the error count was sky high.

Gloucester lineout a mess

As above really. Not for the first time this season, the Gloucester lineout was a mess. It gave no platform whatsoever to the point where I think the backs were surprised to get the ball. I'm not going to blame Will Crane here as he's come in to do a difficult job in elite sport on less than a week's notice. As I said in my preview, the lack of recruitment following Jack Singleton's heart issue is a problem. A few seasons ago, Gloucester had arguably the best maul in The Premiership. For Gloucester to get better, they need that platform. As I said this isn't just a this week problem, it's been a problem for a while now and needs addressing.

Red Bulls win the physical battle

This game was always going to be about winning that physical battle and Red Bulls won it for the majority of the game. Being honest, especially in the first fifty minutes it looked as though Gloucester didn't want to be at Kingston Park at all. The only spark was when Arthur Clark and Jamie Hodgson went kung fu fighting for a yellow card each in the first half. As a Gloucester fan, I expect to see pride and passion in the shirt as a minimum and for the majority of the game I didn't see that tonight. In contrast, regardless of how results have gone for Red Bulls this season there's always been that from those pulling on a Red Bulls shirt.

Brett Connon lines up his penalty at the end of the first half.

Could Gloucester start fast in the second half?

No. They dropped the ball from kick off. Olly Thorley got a twenty minute red card, unfortunately he has a habit of going high into the tackle and there was no excuse for that tonight. Prior to that Gloucester had the ball in attack for a couple of minutes, the ball went side to side and Red Bulls ate up the Gloucester attack. There was no real mixing it up or anything, it was very predictable and unimaginative. From that Red Bulls broke up the pitch and Simon Benitez Cruz who had an excellent game scored to put them 22-5 up. At this point I feared the worst especially when Thorley was red carded from the resulting kick off.

Gloucester get a chance

I was surprised when Red Bulls took three points during the Thorley twenty minute red card instead of going to the corner, mauling and securing their fourth try. That seemed a bit of a turning point and they went into their shell a bit and Gloucester from somewhere got a bit of confidence.

Gloucester did score two tries through Ciaran Knight and Mikey Austin. I felt Cam Jordan did well off the bench, Red Bulls fans got a glimpse of what they can expect next season if rumours are true. I also thought George Barton added from the bench, mainly because he ran straight and with purpose.

Ultimately though it would've been a real smash and grab if Gloucester had won late on, although they had chances. Predictably though a lineout chance was messed up and a penalty awarded to Red Bulls in the last play of the game to send Kingston Park home happy.

Who stood out?

For Red Bulls, Tom Christie was outstanding again as was Tom Gordon in the back row. Simon Benitez Cruz and Brett Connon ran the game well too. Christian Wade showed glimpses of what damage out and out pace can do, give him space and he will score tries but he worked very hard tonight.

For Gloucester, I thought Freddie Thomas worked hard in the second row and as above Cam Jordan and George Barton added from the bench.

Gloucester problems

On paper that Gloucester team man for man is probably better than that Red Bulls team. The difference being Red Bulls played as a team and wanted it more. It's exactly the blueprint that Red Bulls should be about, being physical and abrasive on a cold winters night at Kingston Park. Teams should dread coming up here. Looking at the Gloucester pack, I'd have thought there was a chance of the forwards getting the upper hand tonight but as a unit they were beaten.

In the second half when Gloucester had a penalty and Ross Byrne missed his kick to touch which was very routine that summed up Gloucester at the moment, lacking confidence.

Credit to Red Bulls

Credit to Red Bulls though, for the first fifty or so minutes they were dominant and fully deserved their victory. They will be wondering what went wrong from around fifty minutes when they let Gloucester back into a game they didn't deserve to be in. Against better opposition they'll be punished and it's something that they'll no doubt want to look at how the bench can have a bigger impact.

From a Gloucester perspective I stood in The North Stand at the end of the game and didn't know if I was angry or just perplexed. The players are so much better than this but confidence is shot. Something needs to change at Kingsholm and there's talk of a new DOR. Whatever it is, needs to happen very quickly.

But you can't take anything away from Red Bulls tonight and they'll enjoy a league win and hope they can continue to build on this in the league.