RESOURCEFUL Gloucester must get back to their adaptable best – and beat Saracens at their own game this weekend, reckons boss Nigel Davies.
Rugby director Davies has challenged his side to curb their attacking enthusiasm and meet Premiership leaders Saracens' famed regimented approach head-on.
Gloucester threw their offensive intent wide open in their impressive 17-15 league victory over champions Harlequins at Kingsholm on Friday, March 29.
The Cherry and Whites had hoped to carry that new-found expansive game forward into their Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final against Biarritz.
But brutal 41-31 defeat against the Frenchmen, coupled with Friday night's frustrating 32-9 loss at Sale Sharks has heavily dented those ambitions.
Former Wales centre Davies believes Gloucester have fallen away from the disciplined framework that has underpinned their overall progress this term.
And now he has charged his squad with hitting back to that gritty style against defensive demons Saracens at Kingsholm on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
Davies explained: "Maybe we've moved away from our basics a little bit too quickly, off the back of the game against Harlequins, which was such a fast, free-flowing game, and maybe we lost sight of what we've done well so far this year.
"It's a completely different ball game against someone like Saracens.
"And when you play against some of the top teams, you almost have to play them at their own game sometimes.
"I thought we did that against Quins, and now we've got a huge physical encounter ahead of us against Saracens on Saturday.
"It's very frustrating, you can look at the technical side of the game and break it down into the million pieces that we normally do.
"But I think the last two performances have been based on purely the fact that we've not realised and appreciated what has kept us in good stead really, that sort of team ethic and values.
"And we'll get back to that quickly on Saturday."
Davies admitted Gloucester must tighten up quickly to secure Heineken Cup rugby and fight for their slim chance of play-off qualification.
Calling on his side to pull their approach back together for their final two regular-season games, against Saracens and Exeter, he continued: "You have to do certain basics well and the players have to commit to that.
"And we have to work within the structure that we have.
"As soon you go outside of that, you're in danger of being caught short.
"We're a side that needs to work very hard within the structures that we've got right now, so that we can build momentum.
"And I do believe we've built momentum this year, and we'll reinforce that during pre-season and into next year."
