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'They did take a punt on me': Gloucester extend Skivington deal

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Gloucester have announced that George Skivington has committed his future to Kingsholm after signing a new long-term deal with the Cherry and Whites. A club statement read: “The 39-year-old joined Gloucester in the summer of 2020 as head coach and is now coming to the end of his second full season at the helm.

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“Joining in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, Skivington helped steer the team through a turbulent season and used the challenges of that initial few months to lay the foundations which have been built on this year.

“The 2021/22 season has seen great improvement with Gloucester pushing for a top-four spot in the Gallagher Premiership, reaching the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup, and making the semi-final of the Premiership Rugby Cup.”

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The Breakdown | Episode 14 | Sky Sport NZ

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      The Breakdown | Episode 14 | Sky Sport NZ

      Skivington said: “I’m massively grateful to Gloucester for giving me this contract. The club did take a punt on me. There were higher profile coaches that they could have gone for which would have been the easy option in terms of people’s perceptions.

      “My ambition is to prove them right and show them that they have hired the right guy and I will continue to do that. We want to be a successful club year after year. 

      “What we have done over the last couple of years is lay really good foundations. We have grown the way we play and the culture so that everyone knows what is expected of them day to day. There is huge untapped potential and that is massively exciting.”

      Gloucester CEO Lance Bradley added: “We have been delighted with what George has brought to the club. We have a long-term vision for success both on and off the field, and George has made – and continues to make – a significant contribution towards that.

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      “Nothing that is worth having comes without teamwork and a lot of hard work over a period of time. This season we are starting to see the results of that teamwork and hard work and with the extension of George’s contract, we are sure we will see things building further over the next few seasons.”

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      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

      It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

      I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

      Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

      This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


      It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


      While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

      the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

      Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


      Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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