Gloucester players "have got to have belief" in how good they can be, said head coach George Skivington following recent results.

The Cherry and Whites beat rivals Bath 23-5 on Friday for the first time at Kingsholm in the Prem since April 2022 and, while still early in the season, it laid down a marker that Gloucester are in the mix to be genuine title contenders.

It leaves them top of the Prem table with three wins out of four with the victory also coming after their impressive draw with two times European champions Bordeaux in the Champions Cup.

"I think they have to believe - if you don't believe after these two weeks how good we could be then I don't know what you can do to get any more belief," Skivington said.

For much of the game against Bath, Gloucester were up against it. They had three players sent to the sin bin across the 80 minutes, two overlapping during the first half that saw them reduced to 13 men.

They were consistently pinned back by their own tryline by the 2025 English champions, but were rock-solid defensively as Bath were unable to find a way through to score.

"We're still a long way from where we want to be and I don't say that as a cliche," Skivington said.

"There's a lot of inaccuracies in our game [on Friday], there's a lot of things we didn't get right.

"We had to play with 14, 13 men so you've got to change the tactics, but the boys, their fight, their willingness not to get frustrated with decisions going against you, moments going against you, was top notch, and I think as a group they showed their mettle."

Gloucester have not finished in the Prem top four since 2019, with fifth place in 2021 their highest finish since Skivington took over in 2020.

Last season they lost eight of their first nine Prem games, that effectively ended their 2025-26 campaign before it had begun, and subsequently overhauled their coaching hierarchy during the spring.

Chris Boyd was brought on board as a technical director, with Rob Burgess spearheading recruitment as Skivington's role changed from director of rugby to head coach, allowing him to focus on working with the players.

The playing squad has also been significantly bolstered, notably the arrival of Wales forwards Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake and World Cup-winning South African lock Jean Kleyn.

Skivington said the club was "worlds apart" from where it had been.

"There's no getting away from we're really well set up off the field now," he said.

"Worlds apart from where we have been before and we've got a really good group of lads that we've been growing for a number of years now.

"But bringing in Jac, Dewi, Jean Kleyn, Dan Robson, Joe Joyce is part of that as well. That's really lifted the level of expectation and standards."

Skivington pointed to versatile back George Barton - named man of the match against Bath - as evidence of a player whose game has stepped up a level this season.

"George has been great in games for us but now he's really getting lifted by everything that's gone on at the club," Skivington said.

"People keep asking me what the difference is but there's so many things that we've put in place that have all come together and collectively moved us forward."