{"id":14522,"date":"2025-04-12T19:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T19:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/14522\/"},"modified":"2025-04-12T19:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T19:21:08","slug":"gloucester-star-santiago-carreras-targets-special-finish-before-bath-move-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/14522\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloucester star Santiago Carreras targets ‘special’ finish before Bath move : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

He has the scalps of World Cup finalists South Africa and New Zealand already this season but this is the game with his name written all over it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gloucester at Bath for a semi-final place in the European Challenge Cup lacks the magnitude of Argentina beating the All Blacks in Wellington, then downing the Springboks in Santiago del Estero.<\/p>\n

But for Pumas<\/a> star Santiago Carreras<\/a> it is his current team playing the club he joins this summer and giving a good account of himself at the Rec on Sunday means the world to him.<\/p>\n

Keen to leave on a high<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been almost five years here at Gloucester<\/a> and it\u2019s very important to me that I bring my best right to the end and help this team to win a trophy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to joining Bath but that is for later. For now everything is about Gloucester. I really love this club, this team, the fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always tough to leave a place when you love the people, but I\u2019m determined to make the most of the time I have left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carreras has faced his forthcoming employers twice already this season. Each time Gloucester claimed a four-try bonus point \u2013 and lost.<\/p>\n

But victory at Montpellier last weekend, fresh from sticking a half century of points on Bristol, has the Cherry and Whites in high spirits ahead of the short trip south.<\/p>\n

Gloucester know this time has to be different. That coming flying out of the traps, as they did in the two league meetings, works only if you sustain the onslaught.<\/p>\n

Challenge Cup teams: Owen Farrell dropped as Bulls get double Springboks boost for quarter-final showdown<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Of the 57 points they scored at Kingsholm and the Rec, 50 came before half-time. It does not take a genius to see the flaw in that, given Bath<\/a> racked up 52 points in the two second halves.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we have to keep the intensity for 80 minutes,\u201d says Carreras. \u201cThey are a really physical team. The challenge for us is to bring our game from start to finish, to challenge them for the whole game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bath have recalled ace playmaker Finn Russell after winning in Pau without him a week ago. A month after ending their 17-year trophy drought by winning the Premiership Rugby Cup, Johann van Graan\u2019s trailblazers remain on course for three pieces of silverware.<\/p>\n

But the South African has warned his players that knockout rugby brings a different pressure from the week-to-week Gallagher Premiership<\/a> and says it will be \u201cfascinating\u201d to see which of the derby rivals handles it best.<\/p>\n

Carreras, 27, has a big few months ahead of him. Before moving clubs he has the small matter of Argentina\u2019s match in Dublin against the British and Irish Lions \u2013 followed by England\u2019s two-Test tour to South America.<\/p>\n

Wants to do something special<\/p>\n

The 53-cap star has aspirations to be the best player in the world. But all in good time. Right now he would give his eye teeth for a cup bedecked with Cherry and White ribbons.<\/p>\n

In a tournament<\/a> in which they reached the final against Sharks a year ago, both player and club are desperate to go one better.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game from hereon is a cup final,\u201d insists Carreras. \u201cWe are in the top four of the Premiership and the final eight in Europe. 100 per cent we believe we can do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Andy Goode\u2019s five Lions wannabes looking to \u2018make their pitch\u2019 to Andy Farrell in Champions Cup quarter-finals<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He has the scalps of World Cup finalists South Africa and New Zealand already this season but this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[10105,5012,5013,5014,225,12,6875,4151,10106,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-14522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-bath","10":"tag-challenge-cup","11":"tag-gloucester","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-premiership","15":"tag-rugby","16":"tag-santiago-carreras","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114326620296220940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}