Break will help Gloucester - Ryan

Ryan says the last six weeks have been tough for Gloucester

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan believes a week off from match action will help his players.

The Cherry and Whites are without a game this weekend after beating Newcastle 11-10 on Sunday to reach the semi-finals of the EDF Energy Cup.

Ryan told the This is Gloucestershire website: "If we had to roll straight into next week, it would probably be about making changes.

"But when you get a week's grace, you can do a little bit more training."

He added: "This has been a tough six weeks for us, but at the same time we're in the semi-final of a major competition during the toughest period of the season.

"It's a combination of some guys playing too much and not playing as well as they would have liked.

"There's certainly not a shortage of people trying hard, but sometimes that extra yard of trying hard actually makes things worse. That's where we're at.

"When you find yourself in that situation we would normally change it. But we've not had the luxury through injuries."

Gloucster's problems continued at Kingston Park, with Andy Hazell joining the injury list.