Gloucester fans still furious at Cup loss

GLOUCESTER’s loss to Munster continues to rankle the English club.

So much so, that boss Nigel Melville has been forced to criticise a section of the fan base, upset at the loss in Limerick. On Saturday, Henry Paul was subjected to boos at the start of the Powergen Cup clash with Saracens.

A number of supporters blamed the stand in full-back for the Cherry and White's Heineken European Cup defeat in Thomond Park 10 days ago. They made their feelings known during the team's pre-match practice.

Melville said that he and the entire squad and staff were disappointed by the jeering, which emanated from a section of the Kingsholm crowd, as Paul and the rest of the team warmed up prior to Saturday's victory.

"I was very disappointed about it and so were the players," Melville said. "It is not helpful and Henry could not believe it. It was the first time he had ever been booed by his own fans.

"He accepts all the stick when he does not play well, but to boo a guy before he even plays is very unfair. It disappointed everybody in the squad. For fans to put their own players down is upsetting."

Paul was not in Melville's original selection, as Thinus Delport was named at full-back. However, the Gloucester coach was forced to make an 11th-hour change to his starting line, as Phil Vickery (back) and Robert Todd (calf) withdrew on match day to be replaced by Andy Deacon and Paul at centre, respectively.

Ironically, given the earlier reception, the players returned to the playing field to salute the crowd at the end of 51-20 victory.

Gloucester were handed arguably the toughest of all ties and will face Zurich Premiership and Heineken Cup holders Leicester Tigers, Munster's opponents in the European Cup quarter final.

London Irish and Northampton Saints will contest the other semi final for a place at Twickenham on April 5.

Almost two and a half million viewers tuned into the Heineken Cup meeting of Gloucester and Munster at Thomond Park, according to figures released yesterday.

BBC's Grandstand attracted 2,300,000 viewers, with a further 170,000 watching the game on RTÉ.

Meanwhile, 140,000 watched the RTÉ coverage of the Leinster Lions' win at Bristol Shoguns in the final Pool game.