Gloucester are playing for "pride" in their derby against Bath after seeing their hopes of reaching the Premiership top four disappear, says head coach George Skivington.

They have also been knocked out in the Champions Cup last 16, by La Rochelle.

Gloucester host Bath at Kingsholm on Friday looking for their first Premiership win since February.

"It's been a crazy Premiership. If we'd won our last Premiership game we'd have been knocking on the door of the play-offs - but we don't and we're not," head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"I've not seen too many Premierships where the permutations have swung so much in a couple of weeks.

"The top four has gone for us. There's a massive amount of pride in this group, a massive amount of honest reflection and last game out in the Premiership we weren't very proud of that performance.

"The most important thing against Bath is that we leave that game proud after 80 minutes of who we are and what we've left out there, regardless of anything else."

Skivington confirmed flanker Ruan Ackermann will miss the rest of the season and requires surgery after injuring his knee during the defeat by La Rochelle.

Georges-Henri Colombe was shown a yellow card at the time for the ruck clearout on Ackermann, but was cited after the game and given a four-match ban following a disciplinary hearing.

"Hopefully it's not as bad as it could have been. The scans are relatively fine in terms of such a horrific injury to sustain, or mechanism," Skivington said.

"He's definitely having surgery, his knee needs to settle down a bit then he'll have surgery - then we'll know exactly what the plan is from there."

'A few years behind Gloucester'

Bath's win against Exeter in their last Premiership game moved them off the bottom of the table and was their first win of 2023, as they look to end what has been a season of rebuilding on a high.

However, the club's only away win since April 2022 was at Newcastle in November.

"I've got a lot of respect for George and his team, where they've come from in the last few years," head of rugby Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol.

"We're still a few years behind them in our development but in terms of the game itself, really looking forward to it."

Lock Charlie Ewels has joined up with South African side Vodacom Bulls for the remainder of their 2023 Currie Cup campaign, before returning to Bath for next season.

The 27-year-old has not played since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury while on duty for England last summer.

"I haven't played any rugby since June 2022 so to be able to gain some minutes with an unbelievable franchise like the Bulls is going to be a fantastic experience. I want to soak up as much as I can whilst I'm in Pretoria before returning to Bath," Ewels said.