Freddie Clarke: Depth of Gloucester squad showing in unbeaten start, says flanker

Freddie Clarke (centre) led the Gloucester celebrations after their victory over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park

The depth within the Gloucester squad this season is greater than it has ever been, says flanker Freddie Clarke.

The Cherry and Whites are unbeaten after seven games in all competitions so far in the 2023-24 campaign.

They are into the semi-finals of the Premiership Rugby Cup and have taken nine points from their first two Premiership victories.

"The last seven, eight games have shown how much depth we've got in the team," Clarke told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"It's not been so much continuity between players but with the added depth the competition for places is higher than it's ever really been being at Gloucester."

Head coach George Skivington has spoken about "falling into the trap" of playing the same team too much last season, with 45 players being rotated through the playing squad so far this campaign.

Another four first-team players are still to return from World Cup duty for their nations including Argentina trio Santiago Carreras, Matias Alemanno and Mayco Vivas - the first two of which have been selected for the third place play-off against England on Friday.

Winger Jonny May remains with England but has been left out of the squad for that game.

Meanwhile, Wales' Louis Rees-Zammit is back at Gloucester but will be missing this weekend because of "a bang", according to Skivington.

"We haven't come away with a loss yet this season. You've got international world-class players coming back in the weeks [to come] and I don't think they'll mind me saying they're going to have to fight for their place to get into the team," Clarke said.

"It's exciting. The depth is something I've not necessarily experienced at Gloucester, I think there's going to be a lot of interchangeable players.

"I think to win a Premiership or to be there in the back end of the season you've got to have a big squad and I think we're going to lean on a lot of players this season."

Training for close finales

Clarke has been at Gloucester since 2016 and played all 80 minutes of the recent Premiership wins over Harlequins and Newcastle.

Both were decided by close margins with replacement Jamal Ford-Robinson clinching the win by a point over Quins in the final minute, while Gloucester had to survive a barrage of late attacks to hold off Newcastle by four points.

Clarke said they were in no way "complete" performances as they prepare to host Saracens at Kingsholm on Friday.

"Our positives so far this season have definitely been our scrum and our set-piece from a forwards' point of view, and our kicking game," Clarke said.

"We definitely don't necessarily want [close finales] but we train for them. We do a lot of scenario-based stuff in training but Gloucester get in a lot of close battles so experience in those sort of situations is key.

"We just go back to what we know works from our set-piece or our kicking game."