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Page last updated at 16:57 GMT, Sunday, 4 October 2009 17:57 UK

Leeds 10-26 Gloucester

Leeds (10) 10
Try: Denton Con: C Thomas Pen: C Thomas
Gloucester (6) 26
Tries: Azam, Simpson-Daniel, Tindall Con: Robinson Pens: Robinson 3


Mike Tindall powers into a tackle
Tindall made one try and scored another in Gloucester's much-needed win

Gloucester clinched a morale-boosting victory as basement side Leeds suffered their fourth successive defeat.

The home side led 10-6 at half-time thanks largely to a converted try from young flanker Tom Denton.

But Gloucester hit back in the second half when Olivier Azam touched down, with Nicky Robinson converting, before James Simpson-Daniel scored.

Robinson kicked his third penalty for the visitors and Mike Tindall added a third try late on.

Both teams have struggled so far this season and prior to kick-off propped up the Guinness Premiership table, with Gloucester just above bottom-placed Leeds.

However, it was the home side who started strongest, and with Denton's try, raised hopes of a much-needed victory.

Debutant centre Seru Rabeni, who only moved to Headingley after being rejected by the Cherry and Whites this summer, showed some neat footwork and impressive pace to surge past a clutch of Gloucester defenders and find Jon Goodridge in support.

606: DEBATE
Carneguy

The full-back kept the move flowing with a short offload to returning captain Marco Wentzel and his perfect pass found Denton advancing at pace to saunter clear from 20 metres out.

Ceiron Thomas added the conversion before a penalty from Robinson got Gloucester off the mark in the seventh minute.

Robinson and Thomas traded another penalty each, but the former was guilty of missing further opportunities to add to the visitors score in a poor first-half showing.

Leeds' discipline deserted them either side of half-time when firstly Hendre Fourie was sin-binned for conceding a succession of penalties before Thomas was shown yellow for pulling back Freddie Burns.

Gloucester punished them in the 51st minute when Azam emerged from a thicket of players to touch down.

Robinson added the conversion and it got better for the visitors two minutes later when Tindall was afforded the freedom to gallop through midfield and send Simpson-Daniel in at the left corner.

Robinson added another penalty in the 73rd minute to give his side further breathing space and then, in the last minute, Tindall drove through another gap in the Leeds defence to cross in the right corner.

Gloucester have now ended a run of three successive defeats but for Leeds, four defeats in their opening five Premiership matches bears ominous signs.


Leeds director of rugby Andy Key:
"We were very confident that we had the gameplan to execute the win but we made far, far too many mistakes in the second half.

"That gave them some opportunities and the sin-binnings certainly didn't help.

"But we are hurting ourselves because of the mistakes that we are making."

Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath:
"Certainly our first-half performance was dreadful.

"At half-time I didn't hide from any of that because I thought it was important that the players understood it wasn't acceptable.

"It was difficult to blame everyone but I thought in the second half we did what we had talked about and executed far better."


Leeds: Goodridge; Welding, Hepworth, Rabeni, Blackett; Thomas, Gomarsall; Hardy, Nilsen, Gomez, Lund, Wentzel, Denton, Fa'afili, To'oala.
Replacements: Burrell for Welding (34), Mathie for Gomarsall (50), Moreno for Hardy (73), Ma'asi for Nilsen (58), McGee for Gomez (58), Clark for Denton (58).
Not Used: Oakley, H Paul.

Gloucester: Voyce; Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Vainikolo; Robinson, R Lawson; Dickinson, Azam, Doran-Jones, Attwood, Brown, Strokosch, Hazell, Eustace, Morgan.
Replacements: Morgan for Fuimaono-Sapolu (11), Capdevielle for Doran-Jones (63), Buxton for Attwood (70), Qera for Hazell (45), Burns for Morgan (36).
Not Used: Dawidiuk, Knight, Pasqualin.

Att: 5,371

Ref: Tim Wigglesworth (RFU).



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see also
Fa'afili making up for lost time
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Carnegie look at kicking options
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Jeremy Guscott column
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Northampton 30-10 Leeds
26 Sep 09 |  English
Hooker Azam receives 12-week ban
06 Oct 09 |  English
Rugby star's GBH charge dropped
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Delve free to start Heineken Cup
29 Sep 09 |  Gloucester
Australia line up Gloucester game
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Saracens 19-16 Gloucester
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