IF AT first you don't succeed.... After finishing the regular season atop the Guinness Premiership three times in the last six years, Gloucester have yet to win the play-offs and be crowned champions of England. This afternoon they attempt to make it third time lucky as they face Leicester at Kingsholm in a first versus fourth semi-final to determine who advances through to the play-off final at Twickenham on May 31.
For now Gloucester are the nearly men of English rugby, forever fated to live in the shadow of the big boys, Wasps and Leicester. The club have won almost nothing of note in the professional era unless you count the European Challenge Cup victory tw
o years ago and no one at Kingsholm dwells on it. All their main rivals have at least one Heineken Cup and several domestic titles to their name, just the sort of silverware that Gloucester hanker after.
For that reason alone it is perhaps no surprise that Scotland scrum-half Rory Lawson should find a home from home at the West Country club. Like Gloucester, Lawson has lived in the shadow of several illustrious names, in his case Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter, and like the club the little No.9 feels that his time is coming.
"I like the direction that this squad of players is going in," he said last week. "I have always been someone who is very ambitious and I guess I've challenged myself by staying here."
Lawson is just one of a large Scottish contingent who have set up home in the west of England. With the exception of Chris Paterson, who returns north this summer to rejoin Edinburgh, every signing has been a notable success which is probably just as well since there were plenty of mutterings from the fans at the start of the season.
"I wasn't really aware of it except second hand through Brush (backs coach Bryan Redpath]," says Lawson, "but I think that anyone who said anything then will be eating their words now. Strokes (back row forward Alasdair Strokosch] came third when the fans voted for their player of the season just recently."
While some believed that Lawson might disappear having taken the decision to test himself in England, he rightly points out that he could hardly disappear when he so rarely appeared for Edinburgh. Upon moving, his first task was usurping Peter Richards, an England international and one of the best broken field players in the game. He managed the task in a matter of months.
It was not by any show of brilliance but rather Lawson's traditional rugby virtues; he does the basics better than just about anyone else. His passing, kicking and decision-making rank with anyone in the league. Not that he has too many decisions to make. With strike runners such as James Simpson Daniel, Lesley Vainikolo and Ryan Lamb waiting for the ball out wide it is hardly surprising that coach Dean Ryan opts for the man who delivers it on a plate.
Now in his second season in England, the opposition has worked out that the best way to stop Gloucester's dangerous backs is at source; interrupt the link between the forwards and the backs and suddenly the most potent attack in the Premiership looks about as dangerous as a poke of chips. Munster proved as much in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
"They got to us that day," Lawson admits, "and Bath came after us in the second half of last weekend's match pretty hard. We've got to be aware of it but we have our own ways of trying to stop the opposition from disrupting us. There is an understanding that the 9/10 link is very important to our game and the big change in us this year is the ability to adapt and change things in the middle of a game."
The "us" Lawson refers to is the partnership he has struck up with the young fly-half Ryan Lamb, whom he obviously relishes playing alongside. Lamb is eligible for Scotland but opted to take the England path and the pair of them will be central to any Gloucester success this afternoon – or any failure, which stalks this team like their shadow. After falling to Wasps back in the 2003 premiership final, Gloucester were thumped 44-16 at Twickenham by Leicester last year.
They face the same opposition this afternoon when Lawson will test himself against England's finest in the shape of Harry Ellis. Gloucester have good grounds to be optimistic, the most obvious one being Kingsholm because home advantage could be crucial. Gloucester have shown greater consistency in the league this year but the cherry and whites still perform best on home soil. At least they go into this afternoon's match with some wind in their sails after four consecutive league victories, the last two of which were absolutely vital.
"I think that we are in a better position to be successful this year than we were last season," muses Lawson in his typically considered manner. "We have greater strength of squad, more understanding between the players, more experience in the squad and more experience of playoff rugby. We've had more time together and we had a taste of the knockout stages in Europe. I think all these things mean we are better equipped.
"But most of all we have a little bit of momentum going into this game and not the false momentum that comes from beating teams with nothing at stake. We've beaten the two teams in the other semi-final in the last two weeks. Wasps was probably the biggest game of the season, it was an absolutely massive performance for us because it is over 20 years since Gloucester beat them away from home. If we had lost that one we'd have been struggling to make the top four, never mind the top two."
Gloucester are desperate to lose their "nearly men" tag and they can take an important step to that end this afternoon against the team that many still consider the best in England on their day. And if their selfless scrum-half can help his team to collective glory, who is to say that he too may not one day step out of the long shadow cast by Blair?
GLOUCESTER'S SCOTSTOM WALKINSHAWFormer Arrows F1 boss is the majority shareholder in Gloucester Rugby.
BRYAN REDPATH Former Scotland skipper, below, is backs' coach under Dean Ryan.
CARL HOGG Former Scotland international is in charge of the academy and is forwards coach.
RORY LAWSON Former Edinburgh scrum-half has just signed for another two years at Kingsholm.
ALASDAIR STROKOSCH Former Edinburgh flanker has been hugely impressive in England.
ALASDAIR DICKINSON Former Edinburgh prop has had time off the bench but he is not involved in today's 22.
CHRIS PATERSONProlific Scotland kicker is returning to Edinburgh after failing to break into Gloucester's matchday 22 on a regular basis.
The full article contains 1172 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
