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Laurie Fisher urges Gloucester to 'treasure the ball' against Bath

Laurie Fisher

Laurie Fisher has urged Gloucester to "treasure the ball" in Saturday's Aviva Premiership west country derby against Bath at Kingsholm.

Gloucester have claimed just one league win so far this season, but a draw against Worcester and bonus points collected in all four of their games mean they are only narrowly outside the Premiership's top half.

The odds do not favour them this weekend, though, with Bath having triumphed on their last four Kingsholm visits and lost only one from the last seven Premiership encounters against Gloucester.

"I think fundamentally that the shape of our game is sound," Gloucester head coach Fisher said.

"But, if you look at last weekend (against Newcastle), we need to convert A-zone opportunities into points. That's been one of the big work-ons for us this week.

"We've got to treasure the ball a little bit more, I think we were a little bit loose last week.

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"The statistics would show that in the three games where we've been above our target for acceptable turnovers, we've either lost or drawn. The one game where we were under our target figure, we won.

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"So, it's a reasonably clear picture that we've got to be more careful with the ball.

"I think we probably need to change the structure of our game when we get into the attacking 22 to consolidate possession, ramp up our physicality and find different ways of getting the ball over the line.

"We don't need to gee up the boys for the Bath game - we don't need to gee them for any game - but certainly, the Bath derby is massive in everybody's mindset, whether you are a Gloucester supporter or a Gloucester player."

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