Ryan Caldwell claims a lineout for Bath during Saturday's defeat at Kingsholm © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

Match Pack: Gloucester claim derby win

Matches: Gloucester Rugby 23 - 6 Bath Rugby

Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership

Teams: Bath Rugby | Gloucester Rugby

Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath felt that his pack deserved all of the credit for Saturday's impressive 23-6 victory over West Country rivals Bath at Kingsholm.

The Cherry and Whites had gone into the game on the back of an embarrassing 42-6 defeat at the hands of Quins and they still looked a little shellshocked during the early exchanges as Sam Vesty kicked Bath into a deserved 6-0 lead.

However, Gloucester's forwards then laid the foundations for a stirring fightback by taking control of the scrum and the lineout as the hosts went on to claim a comfortable victory courtesy of tries from hooker Darren Dawidiuk and wing Charlie Sharples, as well as 11 points from the boot of fly-half Tim Taylor.

"I thought our pack were outstanding," Redpath said. "There were some great performances across the board from the pack and that set a platform for the game.

"(Operations manager) John Brain has done a lot of good work with our scrum and that was important for us. We put a big emphasis on that part of the game and it was really important we got that right today, and we knew we could have a go at them there.

"(Forwards coach) Carl (Hogg) also did a lot of work on our driving as we conceded three tries from drives last weekend. Today was about that detail that we practised and having the right collective emotion attached to it. Today we played as a team, defended as a team and got our rewards as a team."

Redpath was also enthused by the way in which his defence held firm during a difficult opening half hour for the home side.

"We never got any field position in that first 25-30 minutes, Bath retained possession well, but we gained a lot of confidence from defending multi-phases," he said.

"We turned them over in certain phases but couldn't get out of our own half and it allowed them a chance to attack. But we grew in confidence after defending for long periods.

"Ideally, you don't want to get into a situation like that, but after last week's performance it was really important that we dig in today and showed lots of character and passion."

And Redpath felt that forcing his players to sit through their horror show at The Stoop last weekend had played a part in their improved display.

"Monday was pretty hard, we had a long review session and you can't not be open and brutally honest when that happens," he said.

"We conceded too many points at Quins away and we had to put that to bed on Monday or we would have dragged our feet through the disappointment of that game.

"From Tuesday onwards it was about understanding how tough Bath was going to be, they had won two, narrowly lost one, and were confident in what they had achieved over the last three or four weeks. We needed to be back to where we should be, not where we were against Quins."

Meanwhile, Bath chief Ian McGeechan was left bemoaning his side's inability to fully capitalise on their early dominance.

"For 32 minutes we were pretty good," the former British & Irish Lions boss said. We kept Gloucester in their own half with no rugby to play and controlled it. With a little bit more execution we probably could have been a couple more scores up.

"They defended well so you have to give them credit, but a couple of poor executions and we gave them a lifeline."