NIGEL Davies has told Gloucester to stop raising their game against their Premiership top-four rivals.
The Kingsholm rugby director is frustrated with Gloucester's trend of beating the league's best, only to slip up against the strugglers.
And he has demanded his squad stop stepping up their approach against the traditional play-off contenders.
If Gloucester reach a different level against Leicester, Saracens, Harlequins and Northampton, it stands to reason they slip away from that against everyone else.
The frustrated former Wales centre will simply not accept the connotation that brings – that Gloucester switch off and take wins against teams like Sale Sharks and London Irish for granted.
Cherry and Whites boss Davies might not go so far as to label his squad complacent, but he understands why his players could be charged with that accusation.
The Gloucester coaches will spend the pre-season drumming into their squad just how important it is to beat teams at both ends of the table, and hit the same levels week after week.
Davies and his coaching team will spend several days at a residential camp this week, to review the fine print on Gloucester's season.
Today The Citizen runs the rule over the Cherry and Whites' campaign too, with inconsistency the common theme.
Davies for one is not about to allow his team to be viewed as a group who only turn it on against the glamour sides.
He said: "If you raise your game to take on the top teams, what does that mean you do when you play the so-called 'lesser' teams?
"The level of application and process that we bring to the top-four teams has probably been a lot higher than to the remaining games.
"We've moved on right across the board, there's no doubt about that.
"But we've got to realise that there's huge strides we can still make, and bring in a level of detail to every game we play.
"That level of focus is what sets the top-four apart.
"We've been competitive throughout apart from the Sale game.
"The challenge for us is to raise our game every week, to add a far greater level of consistency."
Costly defeats at home to London Irish and away at Sale effectively busted Gloucester's play-off flush.
Heineken Cup qualification for next season is a clear step forward after the debacle of the Bryan Redpath fallout a season earlier.
Davies might have impressed in his first season at the Kingsholm helm, but he knows Gloucester must deliver still further next term.
And he hopes Gloucester took the first step towards that with their 40-39 defeat at Exeter Chiefs on the final day of this season.
Despite defeat, Gloucester battled back from leaking 18 unanswered points in as many minutes to outscore their hosts by five tries to three.
Profligacy on the penalty front ultimately undid the Cherry and Whites as Exeter tied up the final Heineken Cup spot.
But the Gloucester boss was proud of his side's fightback, especially in what was technically a dead rubber on their part, given they had already secured top-tier European rugby for next term.
Davies said: "The Exeter game was a huge challenge, but the scenario might have indicated that it wasn't quite so important, at the end of the season and with us already having secured Heineken Cup rugby.
"But the way we rallied and got back into that game, I hope that shows that the players realise where they have to move forward in terms of that mental approach.
"The mental state has to be that we understand there is no difference in importance in any of our games.
"Every game is vitally important.
"That will be one of our biggest challenges for next season, and we'll certainly be working very hard on that during pre-season."
