Gloucester’s Skivington Expresses “Concern” Over Mercer and Thorley Injuries

Gloucester’s director of rugby, George Skivington, who assumed the role last year following three years as head coach, has expressed “concern” regarding the severity of injuries sustained by number eight Zach Mercer and wing Ollie Thorley. Both England international players suffered knee issues during Saturday’s 25-17 Premiership win against Northampton. Thorley’s participation in the match ended after only 19 minutes. Skivington informed BBC Radio Gloucestershire, “I’m concerned, I don’t think they’re going to be pretty ones to be honest, judging by how I’ve seen both the boys the last couple of days.” He added, “I’m always conscious to be careful what I say or think because sometimes it’s worse, sometimes it’s not so bad, but I don’t think those two are going to be particularly quick turnarounds by the looks of it so far.” The former Leicester lock indicated that Mercer and Thorley were “probably” scheduled for scans on Wednesday. Gloucester is set to commence their European campaign this Friday in the Challenge Cup, playing host to Scottish team Edinburgh at Kingsholm. The Cherry and Whites find themselves in a significantly altered situation compared to the previous season, when they entered the competition ranked ninth in the Premiership table and prioritized the Challenge Cup, ultimately reaching the final before a 36-22 defeat to the South African team Sharks. Currently, Gloucester holds the fifth position in the league standings, and Skivington acknowledged that the club’s approach to European competition this season might vary due to their enhanced domestic standing. “There’s certainly a balancing act we’ve had to look at,” he stated. “We’ve mapped out these games how we thought they were going to go and we lost a few boys last week and now we’ve got to revisit it and that’s the nature of the beast.” He concluded, “But we had some great memories in Europe last year and there is a beauty in playing teams you don’t know that well.”