MIKE Tindall is happier than ever at Gloucester – thanks to the Nigel Davies revolution.
The former England captain hopes to build on his promising start to life as player/backs coach and even sign on for another Kingsholm deal.
The 34-year-old's current one-year deal runs to the end of the season, but rugby director Davies has already admitted informal talks have started about a new contract.
Hailing Gloucester's resilience to claw a losing bonus-point from Saturday's 28-25 Harlequins defeat at The Stoop, Tindall said Kingsholm now boasts a buoyant feel.
Gloucester conceded three sloppy first-half tries from Mike Brown, Matt Hopper and Sam Smith in west London.
But Freddie Burns' flawless return of six penalties and one conversion kept the Cherry and Whites afloat.
Billy Twelvetrees' last-gasp field-length try salvaged a point at the home of the champions, with Gloucester refusing to concede a try in the second-half despite losing Shane Monahan and Ben Morgan to the sin-bin.
Relishing his new lease of life, Tindall said Gloucester left London in two minds.
He said: "I love it now and I'm so happy I've been able to get the playing side sorted and be involved in every game so far.
"I love this club and everything that goes with it, and I am really happy with where we are now, hopefully turning a corner and representing ourselves how we want to be seen.
"And that just makes me want to be involved even more moving forward.
"The coaching side is hard work but it's great fun, and it adds another dimension.
"I'm learning all the time and that will take a lot of time, I'm realistic about that.
"It's fascinating picking things up all the time, though, and I'm loving that.
"It's mixed emotions really (about the match). We were disappointed in terms of conceding 21 penalties.
"And the way they scored their tries, being snapshot, we weren't as switched on about that as we could have been.
"But we showed what we're all about in never giving up.
"I was panicking from that restart after we scored wondering whether we should try to win it or take the bonus point, but that was taken out of our hands.
"Not to put our best foot forward in terms of performance was slightly disappointing, but we're pleased to keep taking league points.
"We've been on the end of a good hiding down here in the last few years so it was great to get here and get something out of a game – and stay in the fight.
"It was a little bit of a step back in terms of penalties and handling errors, so given we weren't at our best we've got to be happy with the point.
"There's no way we can complain with this start to the season.
"Looking at things in perspective, the hard work, discipline – normally – and battling qualities, they've been brilliant so far this term."
Davies confirmed James Simpson-Daniel sustained a quad injury and is expected to miss Gloucester's LV=Cup fortnight but should be fit in time for Sale's league trip to Kingsholm on November 24.
Admitting Gloucester will focus on how they conceded 21 penalties against Quins, Davies hailed his side's fightback.
He said: "The penalty count against us was quite scary, but it may well be that we're not disciplined enough and that's one area we've got to sharpen up on.
"The tries we conceded were hit-and-run weren't they? We knew how Harlequins were going to play – hard and fast – and we just didn't react quickly enough.
"I'm disappointed because I don't think we played particularly well, but having said that the spirit was fantastic once again.
"To come to the champions and hit back like that was impressive.
"We might have lost but we put another marker down. One point is better than none.
"What's important is that we keep the league table ticking over, and I think that will be important come the end of the season.
"In fairness to Quins they are a good team, I like the way they play, and not many sides will come here and get a result.
"If we'd been a little more accurate and less sloppy in that first-half, maybe we could have done."
