 | MATCH SUMMARY Gloucester (13) 34
Tries: Bailey, Penalty, Foster
Pens: Mercier (5)
Cons: Mercier (2) Leicester (6) 16
Tries: Johnson, Taikufa
Pens: Humphreys (2) |
A brilliant second-half by Gloucester gave them a commanding win over Leicester at Kingsholm on Friday. The sides were evenly matched before a break by full-back Jon Goodridge set up a try for James Bailey which helped Gloucester to a 13-6 lead at half-time.
Three penalties in six minutes and a penalty try for offside saw the home side pull clear after the break.
The Tigers replied through Will Johnson and Ephraim Taukafa, but Mark Foster's score had already sealed the win.
Things had looked much closer in the first half when a long range kick from Ian Humphreys took his side to within four points.
A Mercier penalty followed, before a big drive from the Tigers took them within inches of the home line.
After winning a penalty skipper Austin Healey opted for a line-out rather than a tap drive, but it proved to be the wrong decision.
The move broke down and from that point Gloucester took command to move into third place in the Guinness Premiership.
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan:
"It's been a long two weeks after the disappointing loss. "We covered a lot of ground verbally in the squad and the thing for us was to feel more comfortable.
"We got the lead early enough for us to try to build on. It was just about getting that right balance on the pitch and we managed to do that."
Leicester coach Pat Howard:
"It was the poorest I've seen since I've been a coach here. "We didn't take control at the start of the second half - our backline was young and I thought they were a bit naive at times.
"But it's a nice game to bring us back down to earth for the next one and we will deal with it and move on."
Gloucester: Goodridge; Bailey, Fanolua, Keil, Foster; Mercier, Amor; Collazo, Elloway, Powell; Pendlebury, Brown; Boer, Merriman, Forrester.
Replacements: Thirlby for Foster (79), Parkes for Elloway (60), Wood for Powell (59), Eustace for Pendlebury (60), Buxton for Merriman (49), Balding for Forrester (64).
Not Used: M Davies.
Sin Bin: Collazo (67).
Leicester: Vesty; H Tuilagi, Lloyd, Smith, Varndell; Humphreys, Healey; Rowntree, Buckland, Morris; L Deacon, Kay; B Deacon, Abraham, Johnson.
Replacements: Broadfoot for H Tuilagi (64), Dodge for Varndell (60), Bemand for Humphreys (54), Holford for Rowntree (40), Taikaufa for Buckland (59), Hamilton for B. Deacon (34), Skinner for Abraham (65).
Sin Bin: Smith (54).
Att: 12,500
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).
MMIX
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