Gloucester press in brief: five things we learned

Pat Lam called on his side to sharpen up their execution ahead of Friday's trip to Kingsholm.

"A real focus this week has been to make sure that our execution is spot on, make sure that we are running the right lines, running the right systems in attack and defence," said the head coach.

"It’s been proven that every time we’ve done that, we put the other team under pressure and we get points.

"The thing about the Premiership is when you go away from home, you have to be united as a team, you have to play as a team and that will give you a great chance of getting points."

Ian Madigan hailed the Bristol Bears' defensive resilience at Allianz Park, and called for more of the same this weekend against a threatening Gloucester side.

"From talking to some of the Saracens guys, they felt they were in a really tough rugby match and felt very challenged.

“They are a very good side, even the way they got off to a fast start and got scores on the board, it could have potentially been a long day for us.

"But we dug in there, stuck to our systems and fought our way back into the game."

After playing in front of a packed house at Ashton Gate in the opening West Country derby of the season, Ian Madigan is relishing another electric atmosphere this weekend.

“I got to experience one of the derbies against Bath, and it was incredible to fill Ashton Gate with our supporters, and with a lot of the Bath supporters travelling up as well," he said.

“So, I’m sure we’ll have a good travelling support from Bristol and in fairness to Gloucester, there’s fantastic supporters at Kingsholm.

"The Shed I’m sure will be chanting away on Friday night.”

After George Smith's disciplinary charge for a dangerous tackle - following Saturday's red card at Saracens - was dismissed by an RFU panel, Pat Lam reflected on the outcome.

"We were confident once we showed them all of the evidence that George would be exonerated like we thought," he said.

"I think the thing that is pleasing for George, is that he’s a world class player and one of the best defenders in the world and for him, he’s never had any issues with foul play in his whole career of 19 years. So, it meant a lot to him to show that he didn’t commit any foul play and they ruled it was a legitimate tackle."

“I think for us this week, we’re going to be challenged a lot with our defence," said Madigan.

"They’ve got some strong runners, they play flat to the line and they’ve got the ability to get the ball out of those shapes and get it into the wide channels, so we’ve got to be really ready for that.”

Lam added: "The next thing then is understanding what they (Gloucester) bring to the table, and trying to put pressure on that and then applying our teamwork to them. It’s going to be a great fixture, I love these games."