It is two years since Gloucester were beaten like never before, their head coach faced calls for his head and Lewis Ludlow got embroiled in a social media spat with fans as he stood up for his team.
“At some point this is going to click,” promised the captain, only nobody was listening. Words don’t mean much when you’ve been battered 90-0.
This evening the biggest club tournament in world rugby kicks off with Investec Champions Cup holders Bordeaux travelling to face the leaders of the Gallagher PREM.
The match is at Kingsholm, Gloucester provide the opposition and Ludlow is still on the team sheet.
“Honestly, I thought this sort of opportunity may have passed me by,” admits the former England skipper, now 32 and in his testimonial year. “I thought my chance had gone.”
Tall story
The headline news building into this Pool 3 clash is Bordeaux’s decision to pick Tongan prop Ben Tameifuna in the second-row. Weighing 24 stone and measuring just six foot are two obvious reasons he has not played there before.
Up until three weeks ago a taller story would have been Gloucester, eighth of 10 in the league last season, sitting on top of the English rugby pyramid warning the best team in Europe they are not scared of them.
“We’re going to impose ourselves on them and see if they can cope with us,” was how Ludlow put it yesterday.
“Kingsholm is a horrible place to come as a visiting team on a Friday night. They’re not going to be enjoying it at 8 o’clock when the Shed is getting into them. There’s no reason we can’t win.”
To fully appreciate the journey to bold talking pace-setters you need to speak, not with marquee summer signings Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan and Jean Kleyn, but a man with the scars to show for Gloucester’s years of under-achievement.
“First of all,” says Ludlow, whose 11 years in the first team have brought one Premiership Cup, one play-off semi-final and not a lot else, “the place feels like I’ve always wanted it to.
“There’s a feeling of constant desire and willingness to get better. The quality, on and off the pitch, has changed and with it the mentality.
“You see it in more people doing extras after training. It makes a big, big difference when you’ve got 25 doing that rather than five or six.”
Ludlow credits Brett Deacon and Joel Tomkins, newly appointed assistant coaches, with transforming the mindset and points to Gloucester’s only defeat this season, last week at Leicester, as proof.
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Tigers led 38-21 into the 80th minute, Glaws refused to give it up and bagged two bonus points with 10 points in the dying seconds.
“I said to the lads afterwards, ‘The last few years, there’s no way we’re getting two points out of that game. Not a chance. That would’ve gone on to be a big loss’.”
With 19 seconds remaining, Freddie Thomas’ lineout take led to Jack Innard being mauled over for Gloucester’s fourth try.
Aware of the time, George Barton raced to retrieve the ball and quickly converted from touch. The ball split the uprights with one second left on the clock.
Referee Karl Dickson signalled time for one more play and from Leicester’s restart Gloucester took it 12 phases to within kicking range where they won a penalty and Barton again obliged.
Ludlow says: “If you go across the season averaging four points a game, as we have through the first three rounds, you’re going to be in a very good spot come the end of it.
“It means nothing if it doesn’t continue but it’s a really nice spot to be in. There’s definitely been times where I’ve taken stuff home, results have stuck with me for weeks and months rather than the 24 hours they should.”
The 90-0 loss to Northampton in May 2024 was the most extreme example. Ludlow captained a team weakened by the absence of players rested for a European final they would lose, and Saints scored 14 unanswered tries.
It was Gloucester’s heaviest league defeat and the biggest winning margin for a home team in Premiership history.
Social media out west went into meltdown, Ludlow bit back then quickly went onto the fan podcast that called for the head of team boss George Skivington to apologise for “Twittering on emotion”.
Asked if success this season would make all the tough times worthwhile, he nods.
Gloucester praise
“But the reason I’ve been so lucky in life is this club,” he adds. “That is why I’m always going to give Gloucester everything and care about it more than anyone. This club means everything to me.”
Bidding for a record-equalling third straight Champions Cup crown, Bordeaux will provided the sternest test yet of new-look Gloucester’s credentials.
Their mood will not have softened by having four of their players, including star wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, denied entry into the UK and stranded at Bristol Airport due to invalid Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) permits.
But Ludlow warns: “We’re as good as any team in attack and transition. We’re as good as any team when it comes to set-piece and if we defend as Joel wants us to, we know we can shut anyone down.
“We’re of the opinion that everyone can be beaten, so why shouldn’t we beat Bordeaux?”
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