Gloucester thrash Newcastle to take Champions Cup spot

The Prem

Gloucester (35) 54

Tries: Redshaw (3), Clark, Englefield, Llewellyn, Blake, Venter Cons: C Atkinson (7)

Newcastle (21) 21

Tries: McGuigan, Christie, Cruz Cons: Connon (2), Healy

A Ben Redshaw-inspired Gloucester secured their spot in next year's Champions Cup as they overpowered Newcastle Red Bulls.

Both clubs were looking to finish the season on a high following difficult campaigns, with Gloucester having the added incentive of a place at Europe's top table provided they could match or better Harlequins' result against Northampton.

The Cherry and Whites overwhelmed the Newcastle defence in the first half, scoring five tries through Arthur Clark, Caolan Englefield, Max Llewellyn and a double for Redshaw, to the Red Bulls' two.

The home team kept up the pressure in the second half, with Seb Blake and James Venter adding further scores before Redshaw capped a fine performance with a hat-trick score of his own making.

With victory secured and eight tries scored, Harlequins' victory over Northampton proved irrelevant and Gloucester can look forward to next season's Champions Cup campaign.

In front of the expectant home faithful, Gloucester did not take long to open their account.

With seemingly nothing on in the midfield, Redshaw darted through a gap in the Newcastle defence before stepping the final defender to go over untouched.

Undeterred, the visitors struck back minutes later through George McGuigan, the Red Bulls captain barreling through the tackle of Charlie Atkinson after a lovely offload from Jamie Hodgson.

With their opponents struggling at the line-out, Newcastle took advantage again. Having driven up to the Gloucester line Tom Christie spotted a small gap, diving over to put the visitors ahead for the first time.

But that was as good as it got for them. Unable to reorder their defence following a quick-tap penalty, Atkinson escaped two tacklers before feeding Clark to run clear to equal the scores.

Newcastle's defensive frailty was on display once again soon afterwards.

With the ball kicked through, Atkinson regathered to run the perfect arc through the defence before finding Englefield, who went over untouched.

With half-time approaching Llewellyn got into the action, assisting Redshaw for Gloucester's bonus-point score before picking the perfect line from close range to dot down himself as the visitors looked increasingly ragged in defence.

The pace of the game slowed after the break but Newcastle soon found themselves on the back foot, with Blake driving over from close range after the Red Bulls had been penalised once again at the breakdown.

Gloucester's forward dominance was then put to good use in the ensuing phase, with Venter emerging with the ball from the bottom of a rolling maul as Newcastle toiled.

To their credit, Newcastle kept playing, with replacement Ben Healy finding Simon Benitez Cruz with a perfectly placed cross-field kick, allowing the Argentine to go over.

But with Newcastle caught narrow as the clock wound down, it was Gloucester who had the last laugh.

Redshaw eluded Christian Wade on the wing before kicking ahead and regathering for a deserved hat-trick score in front of the delighted home crowd.

Gloucester will look to put an injury-hit season behind them as they head into the summer break.

Fans will be hoping the arrival of Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake will offset the losses of Tomos Williams and Matias Alemanno, with new coaches Joel Tomkins and Brett Deacon tasked with breathing life into a club that stagnated following last season's impressive fifth-place finish.

It's all change at Kingston Park as well, with 26 players expected to leave when their contracts expire and interim head coach Stephen Jones reverting back to his preferred role as attack coach, being replaced in the top role by Dan McFarland.

A number of exciting additions are also expected, with Raffi Quirke, Sam Graham and All Black Hoskins Sotutu all due to arrive in the coming months.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"I think it was a little bit messy at the start, but the boys got into the game and ultimately we needed the five points to secure eighth, and the boys did that.

"Bennie (Redshaw) was brilliant. He's done really well in the last couple of weeks, having missed a huge chunk of the season - a real prospect for the future but he's still got a lot to learn.

"The players, the staff, the coaches have dug us out (of a hole) in the last couple of months.

"We finished in the bottom half of the table, so we cannot score ourselves too highly there, but there's been a lot of good in the last six weeks.

"What's important is what we do over the summer going into next season."

Newcastle Red Bulls interim head coach Stephen Jones told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"I thought we got ourselves into the game (in the first half), created some good opportunities, scored some good tries, missed some opportunities, and then we switched off for 11 minutes and the game got away from us.

"We showed some good fight in the second half. In fairness to the boys, some guys were digging in deep and to go 80 minutes, I'm very proud of the group.

"We asked good questions, but missed some opportunities on the edge which hurt us. But overall, considering how hard the team worked, we scored 21 points - it's a credit to them."

Gloucester: Redshaw; Thorley, Llewellyn, S Atkinson (c), Loader; C Atkinson, Englefield; Rapava Ruskin, Blake, Fasogbon; Clark, Alemanno, Thomas, Venter, Trenholm.

Replacements: Innard, Bleuler, C Knight, Gwynne, Clement, Austin, W Knight, Edwards-Giraud.

Newcastle: E Grayson; H Obatoyinbo, Hearle, Arnold, E Obatoyinbo; Connon, Benítez Cruz; Hancock, McGuigan (c), McCallum, Hodgson, Scott, Leatherbarrow, Christie, Lockwood.

Yellow card: McGuigan 55

Replacements: Fletcher, Clark, Palframan, Cardall, Parsons, Elliott, Healy, Wade.

Referee: Joe James.