Ryan's Challenge final too small-scale
Gloucester coach wants a bigger stage
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan has blasted the decision to stage the European Challenge Cup final at the Twickenham Stoop because he feels its is too small for the prestige event.
The Cherry and Whites reached their first European final against either Newcastle or London Irish, who play the second semi-final on Sunday, but Ryan is disappointed the final will take place at the Stoop on May 21.
Gloucester, who came back from an eight-point deficit to beat Worcester 31-23, took 20,000 to Twickenham in 2003 when they won the Powergen Cup by beating Northampton and could expect the same for this Euro final.
The Stoop can only hold a maximum of 12,500 fans and Ryan was quick to point out the enthusiasm of his team's fans render that figure rather small.
"It's a final and I suppose the support of this club could fill this stadium," said Ryan.
"I feel it's a little short-sighted by the invisible people who make these decisions to hold it there.
"I think it's wrong to decide to have it there and twelve and a half thousand is not enough for our support."
But despite the venue for the final Ryan was happy with the effort from his side against the Warriors.
"I thought Worcester looked on top of their game and we spent the middle part struggling to get into the game. What pleased me was we kept our ambitions and belief and we got the just rewards," he said of the match.
"Overall, in the whole game, I thought we deserved it. They have got a great set-piece but I thought (lock) Alex Brown was tremendous in the lines today.
"They thought we would be pressured in the scrum where we were last week but we have shown we have an exciting group of people who want to play."
Ryan described reaching the European final as "a great staging post of where we want to be".
"We want to be in finals and we have to play in these type of finals if we want to achieve future ambitions of Premiership and Heineken Cup finals," he said.
It was the second time in a week that Worcester had been beaten at Kingsholm, having lost 27-16 in the Guinness Premiership.
It also means they have no chance of Heineken Cup qualification for next term.
Worcester rugby director John Brain thought his team stood up much better to the challenge than in the previous encounter.
"I felt we played a lot better today. You can take losing when we perform reasonably well," he reflected.
"We got ourselves into a winning position but we were not positive enough. Really, they crept back into it.
"The players are obviously gutted because they gave their everything and just didn't do enough to win. But I think, as a team, we are developing reasonably well."
