Ryan praises Sharples and Trinder

Winger Sharples has played four first-team games for the Cherry and Whites

Head coach Dean Ryan found plenty of positives in defeat after Gloucester prevented Leicester from crossing for a try in a 24-10 loss at Welford Road.

Ryan reserved special praise for 19-year-old backs Charlie Sharples and Henry Trinder on Saturday.

"It was a top-of-the-table clash away from home and they looked comfortable," Ryan told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"To bring two lads here and for them to perform is outstanding for their long-term futures and also Gloucester's."

It was centre Trinder's third appearance in the first-team, with wing Sharples having played just one more game than his England Under-20 colleague.

"It's unusual for me but I can't speak highly enough of them when we've lost," added Ryan.

"You can only illustrate how hard you're prepared to work when things are going against you, and I thought we did that in spades."

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Ryan was critical of the two yellow cards to scrum-half Rory Lawson and second-row Alex Brown, which hit Gloucester's hopes in the second half.

He said: "I thought we had an element of control in the first-half, but the second-half was a story about yellow cards.

"We couldn't hold field position. If you take 20 minutes out of a 40-minute half and say you're going to operate without your main lineout caller and your nine, it's no wonder we couldn't hold field position.

"But there are huge positives to take from the game. If that team keeps operating as it has for the last five or six weeks we're going to get stronger, I've no doubts about that.

"This is a loss, but I think we'll take a lot of internal credit from what we're doing and take it into other games as we get stronger as the weeks go by."