If the Shed could be supplied with an early-season drug of choice it would be a convincing derby win over Bath. Their wish was duly granted against a disjointed visiting team who still seemed marooned in rehab. Gloucester, steered expertly around the field by their new Welsh fly-half, Nicky Robinson, did not have to scale any great heights to win with plenty to spare.
Two tries for James Simpson-Daniel, who, bizarrely, has been omitted from England's senior and Saxons squads, gave the locals reason to be cheerful but above all this was a timely boost for the new regime of Bryan Redpath, who has been elevated to the head coach's hot seat following the departure of Dean Ryan. If Gloucester's morale was splintering towards the end of last season, Redpath has applied some fast-drying glue. "He's totally different to Dean, he wants to get closer to the players," said Simpson-Daniel afterwards. The king is dead, long live the king.
It also helps to have a fly-half who oozes calm and authority. Robinson, who has belatedly crossed the Severn Bridge after years with Cardiff, did not attempt anything flash but invariably chose the right option, pinning Bath back with a variety of teasing kicks. He also had sufficient gas in the tank to score an interception try, the second donated by Bath, four minutes from time. The contrast with poor Ryan Davis was brutal – Bath's young No10 missed three relatively straightforward first-half penalties and his side struggled for momentum as a result.
Gloucester exerted almost total control for long periods, a consequence not simply of their own efforts but also of Bath's shortcomings. Davis was not the only player struggling for rhythm, to the extent that Bath's head coach, Steve Meehan, was left struggling to explain why their decent pre-season form had evaporated.
"That performance has come out of the blue because preparations to date have been excellent," said Meehan. Today's appeal hearing in London involving two of the club's former players, Michael Lipman and Alex Crockett, will provide yet another distraction he could do without.
Initially, high balls caused uncertainty in Bath ranks. A prolonged juggle by Joe Maddock ended in a knock-on and a penalty for Robinson when Bath's new Australian openside, Julian Salvi, gathered the loose ball in an offside position. Nick Abendanon also endured some uncomfortable moments and Gloucester's confidence grew accordingly, despite a yellow card for Andy Hazell, for illegal use of the boot. Dave Attwood, the towering new signing from Bristol, enjoyed an excellent introduction at lock and a Bath old boy, the multi-vowelled Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, was also in the thick of it.
It was the latter whose pass allowed Simpson-Daniel to exploit a huge overlap and score the first try after 17 minutes, the unfortunate Davis having turned the ball over way back upfield. With the fly-half struggling to locate a barn, let alone the door, Bath's only route back into the game was to stay calm and keep their discipline; they had failed on both counts when Simpson-Daniel swooped on Michael Claassens's 51st-minute pass to race over from 75 metres. Bath's appeals for a penalty at a ruck moments earlier fell on deaf ears. That was effectively that, although Matt Carraro's nifty handling out on the right put Shontayne Hape over for a 67th-minute Bath try.
If the crowd of 12,812, more than 3,000 short of capacity, was a slight letdown, Redpath correctly saw the result as an important stepping stone.
"We've put some of the nightmares of last season to bed," he said. "We lost that passion last year. I was honest with the players and told them they couldn't keep blaming other people all the time. All I ask is that they put their knackers on the line."
There will be days, particularly away from home, when something slightly more sophisticated will be required if Gloucester are to beat the leading sides but Bath face more pressing problems. Butch James is out until the New Year and their other specialist kicker, Olly Barkley, is not due to return from a broken leg until the end of the month. In a league in which margins are tighter than a rolled-up £20 note, any club cannot afford such profligacy as was seen here on a regular basis.
Gloucester Voyce; Simpson-Daniel, Tindall (capt; Molenaar, 47), Fuimaono-Sapolu, Sharples (Burns, 79); Robinson, R Lawson (Lewis, 74); Wood (Dickinson, 52), S Lawson (Dawiduik, 77), Somerville (Capdevielle, 77), Attwood, Brown (Bortolami, 64), Strokosch, Hazell (Qera, 57), Delve.
Tries Simpson-Daniel 2, Cheeseman. Cons Robinson 3. Pens Robinson.
Sin-bin Hazell.
Bath Abendanon (Banahan, 52); Maddock, Cheeseman , Hape, Carraro; Davis (Little, 76), Claassens (capt; Bemand, 76); Flatman (Barnes, 64), Dixon (Mears, 47), Wilson (Bell, 56), Hooper (Short, 56), Grewcock, Beattie, Salvi, Skirving (Faamatuainu, 56).
Referee A Small. Attendance 12,812.
