Dean Ryan admitted his Gloucester side face an uphill task to reach the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup after their 37-24 defeat in Cardiff.
Gloucester coach bemoans loss of key players in Cardiff
Dean Ryan admitted his Gloucester side face an uphill task to reach the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup after their 37-24 defeat in Cardiff.
The four-try loss was compounded by injuries to Ryan Lamb, Olly Barkley and Luke Narraway, and in all probability they will need to win their remaining four games in order to progress.
Ryan said: "It will be a big task now. This has put us on the back foot, and we will have to do something special at Kingsholm.
"I am disappointed we didn't win the game. I thought we had a lot of control, and I thought we looked very threatening.
"But the injuries were very disruptive, especially losing Ryan and Olly when we did (either side of half-time).
"I think it meant about five players changing positions, and we never looked the same back-line after the injuries.
"We are two games into the tournament, and Cardiff have still got to come to Kingsholm and play Biarritz back-to-back in December."
Good start for Blues
Winning coach David Young was delighted to make it two wins from two after the Blues followed up last week's triumph in Calvisano.
"We weathered a few storms out there," said Young. "There were big parts of the game when it could have gone either way.
"We have four pool fixtures left, and we've got to win three of those - that has to be our focus.
"We are pleased to be where we are, but I know there are some hard games to come. We have given ourselves a good start - but that's all it is."
Young paid tribute to number eight Andrew Powell, whose performance is likely to have caught the eye of the Wales selectors ahead of the autumn internationals.
"That's probably the best we've seen from Andy for two or three seasons," he added. "He has been plagued by injuries, but he has always been a special athlete, and he really stood up for us today. I've not seen many better performances."
