Gloucester have spent 'wisely' - Skivington

Gloucester have spent their money "wisely" this season, believes director of rugby George Skivington.

The Cherry and Whites released 13 senior players this summer, with 13 new faces signed heading into the 2025-26 campaign.

Gloucester narrowly missed out on a place in the Premiership play-offs last season, finishing fifth in the table, just two points behind Bristol despite winning the same number of matches.

"The way we've recruited for next season is we've got a bigger squad, we've got an unbelievable amount of talent," Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"We're a more talented squad next year, there's a few [new players] we're hedging our bets on - some are going to come through, some aren't.

"They haven't all got the experience of 200 caps in the Premiership but we've spent our money really wisely and for Gloucester that is really important. The model is different."

Making Gloucester a sustainable club has been the aim of the owners for a number of years since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the 10 Premiership clubs, Gloucester were the closest to breaking even when the most recent set of accounts was released for 2022-23, although their debt still totalled £541,000 that year.

Big-name players including full-back Santiago Carreras, centre Chris Harris and back-row Ruan Ackermann, who amassed more than 400 club appearances between them, are among those exiting Kingsholm.

However, Gloucester have increased their squad size from 35 to 40 for next season.

New signings blend youth and experience and include Ireland fly-half Ross Byrne, South African back row James Venter and New Zealand prop Nepo Laulala plus full-back Ben Redshaw, scrum-half Mike Austin and centre Will Joseph.

Skivington said it would have cost a "huge amount of money" to keep some of the players who have left and that the club is working towards more strength in depth.

"We lost a couple of lads in key positions this season and we had to really anchor down, push people in and there were some really costly games for us," he said.

"I think we've spent our money smartly over the next couple of years."

Argentina back Santiago Carreras is joining Premiership rivals Bath next season from Gloucester

Gloucester have not finished in the Premiership play-offs since Skivington was appointed in 2020, but he believes they took a "massive step forward" last term after finishing ninth in the table the previous campaign.

The signing of scrum-half Tomos Williams proved to be a masterstroke, with the Welshman helping spearhead a new-look attacking style, and going on to win Premiership player of the season.

Centre Seb Atkinson, fly-half Charlie Atkinson and second row Arthur Clark have also all been called up to Steve Borthwick's England training squad this week, before their match against France.

"Tommy was outstanding and got all of the headlines but if you look at Arthur Clark, Freddie Thomas, the spine of our team was young Gloucester boys," Skivington said.

"Everything is done with purpose and I think we've got a really young, hungry squad with some really good senior players sitting in there which will drive the squad forward. Everyone, bar one or two, is on two or three-year deals."