Pressure on for 'massive' Saints game - Skivington

Gloucester have not finished in the top four yet under George Skivington's tenure

Gloucester face a "massive" game against Northampton says director of rugby George Skivington, despite a top-four finish in the Premiership being out of their hands.

The Cherry and Whites are fifth in the table, two and three points respectively behind Bristol - who host Harlequins - and Sale, who travel to Exeter in the final round of fixtures on Saturday.

Gloucester, who have never reached the top four since Skivington took over in June 2020, need one of the sides above them to slip up if they are to reach the play-offs.

"It's a massive game for us, we have to win it, nothing outside that matters," Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"We know things have to go our way so there's some pressure on this week to make sure we deliver what we can.

"We're not exactly where we want to be but we're right on the edge; all we can do is rip into this week which the boys have done, get as focused and as ready as we can and focus on beating Northampton Saints."

When the Premiership resumed after a two-month break in March, Gloucester were third in the table.

But defeats by Bath and Saracens dropped them out of a tight race at the top and their hopes received a major hit two weeks ago when they were beaten 38-19 by Harlequins to leave their fate out of their hands.

"We'd love to be able to have a shot at it, there's always going to be a few results you look at and go 'we could have made life a bit easier'," Skivington said.

Whatever the result on Saturday, their league campaign has still been a marked improvement on the past two years, when Gloucester finished 10th out of 11 in 2022-23 and ninth out of 10 last season.

They implemented a new, more expansive style of play last summer and have often proved one of the most exciting attacking outfits in the Premiership with their 535 points scored significantly more than the 400 of last season.

"I think we've been brave enough to try something different, to push it in a different direction. It's not been perfect - there's always bits you look at and go 'if we'd done this, if we'd done that' and that's the beauty of it," Skivington said.

"There's bits that we'll definitely next year want to get better at to support the good work we've done this year.

"But overall I've been really pleased with everyone in this building. Now we've just got to finish the job off, control what we can and focus on this game - whatever happens, try and have a good day at Kingsholm."

'Make fans proud' - Ackermann

Ruan Ackermann is among 19 players leaving Gloucester this summer

Saturday's match will mark the final appearance in Cherry and White for a number of players including full-back Santiago Carreras, centre Chris Harris and back-rows Ruan Ackermann and Freddie Clarke, who are among 19 leaving the club this summer.

Ackermann, who made more than 170 appearances for Gloucester after signing in 2017, said he wanted to make the fans "proud" before bowing out.

"I always just wanted to get respect from the fans at Kingsholm. I feel they deserve a lot for the support they give," Ackermann said.

"All I can always do is make them proud and hopefully on the weekend we can have one more game at home where I can walk off and say I've given everything to them."

The 28-year-old has not confirmed where he will play next season but said he knew for a while he would be leaving Gloucester.

"I think I'm getting to a stage now in my life where there was a feeling from the club and me that I feel I needed to go," he said.

"It's more the reality sank in the last two, three months when you say to them 'I probably need to move on'. The club's got their ambitions and mine has changed a bit because of how things are going, and [you have to] try to accept it."