Gloucester-Hartpury’s Character to be Tested, Says Lewis

Flanker Bethan Lewis stated that Gloucester-Hartpury’s upcoming game against Sale will be a “test of their true character,” following two consecutive defeats. Lewis recently made her first appearance for Gloucester-Hartpury after participating in the WXV tournament for Wales. The reigning two-time champions have experienced defeats in their most recent two Premiership Women’s Rugby fixtures, falling to Exeter and Saracens. Consequently, the club now occupies third place in the table after four games this season, trailing leaders Saracens by eight points. Lewis, who was making her first start for the season after her involvement in the WXV tournament for Wales, commented that the players are “human.” Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, she added, “We probably have a target on our backs as well this season. We can’t take that lightly and we need to brush off these last two games and go into Sale this weekend all guns blazing.” Lewis further stated, “I think this will be a test of our true character, how we brush ourselves off going forward.” In their previous match against Saracens last weekend, Gloucester-Hartpury held a 12-point advantage at half-time but subsequently gave up four tries after the interval, resulting in a five-point loss. The last occasion they conceded over 40 points in a league fixture was in November 2020. Lewis attributed the team’s second-half performance issues to a lapse in discipline, but expressed confidence that the return of numerous international players to the squad would soon lead to improved cohesion. She elaborated, “We struggled to click a bit last week.” She continued, “Everyone was back in training fully last week, just for the one week, so we’ve definitely focused on [getting] back into it, getting to know how each other play again, so hopefully it will be seamless going into this week.” Head coach Sean Lynn characterized the problems observed in the Saracens match as “easy fixes.” The team is scheduled to visit Trailfinders on 9 November, after which the league will enter a two-week hiatus. Lynn commented, “We’re very disappointed that we’ve come on back-to-back losses. As a group we are going to pull together and making sure that going into Sale we’re not going to take lightly.” He added, “We’ve got two weeks where we can fix these issues and we know they are easy to fix.”