Gloucester Rugby conclude their 2022/23 home fixtures when they welcome Sale Sharks to Kingsholm on Saturday evening.

With Sale currently occupying a home semi-final spot, Skivington knows they’re in for a tough test this weekend.

“Sale are second in the league for a reason, they’ve had an outstanding season.

“They have strength across the board, big men in the pack, George Ford coming back in, so they’re peaking at the right time, and they looked really good against Bristol last week.

“It’s a massive challenge but it’s exciting for us. We were wounded by Friday night, so we’ll work hard this week to get ready for it.”

Last week, Gloucester Rugby were defeated 24-33 at Kingsholm by rivals Bath. Skivington says the players are hurting from the defeat, and eager to put things right this weekend.

“It was disappointing, you don’t want to lose a derby and there was a lot of emotion around that in the week and with a few results recently we wanted to make a mark in that game.

“But in the end, our set-piece wasn’t good enough, Bath did well in that area and from that point of view, they got on top.

“We pride ourselves in our set piece and we have got a lot of results from that in the past two years so that’s a rare game we got outdone, which led to pressure, which led to penalties.”

Skivington admits there were some areas that he could see improvements, particularly in attack. But says it’s tough to win Premiership games with no set piece.

“I thought the boys did some really good stuff in attack and they were committed to what they were trying to do and worked extremely hard.

“It’s a bit of a shot to the ego for the forwards in particular because we have been strong in that area, Trevor has done a great job with the scrum and it’s top of the charts across the board.”

The Head Coach says the squad have reacted well to the defeat last week.

“Adversity is a part of sport and sometimes things don’t go your way, but you have to try and keep moving forward and keep getting better and the boys are brilliant at that.

“The boys are not feeling sorry for themselves they're concentrating on how they can get better and make sure we’re on it for Sale.”

The Gloucester Rugby fans filled Kingsholm to the brim for the derby, and Skivington says he hopes the fans can bring the same atmosphere to Saturday’s fixture.

“The atmosphere was awesome again on Friday night, it would have raised the roof if we had one. So, it’s brilliant and with it being the last game at Kingsholm this season this week, hopefully, we get a good crowd in again and the boys will be excited to put on a show.”

Saturday will be the final Kingsholm appearance for two club stalwarts. Ben Morgan retires from international rugby at the end of the season, and Billy Twelvetrees will move o from the club, after over a decade’s service from each.

“It was a really nice moment for Ben to lead out the team last weekend, he’s been here a long time and he’s played a lot of rugby for Gloucester.

“Billy is such a quality individual as a bloke and as a rugby player. He sets the standards day to day.

“I’ve known Billy personally for a very long time and I’ve got all the time in the world for him.

“He’s been outstanding at the tail end of this season when we’ve needed him to step up and he’ll be sorely missed.

“They’ve given a lot for everybody who comes to the games, and the fans have given a lot to those individuals too, so it will be a nice way to send them off on Saturday.”

Tickets for Saturday's final Kingsholm game are available to purchase here.

Skivington says wounded Gloucester eager to end home season on a high

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