Gloucester stretched their lead at the top of the Zurich Premiership with a big win over Leeds at Kingsholm.

The Cherry and Whites built up a 17-7 lead by the interval, but they were made to work hard for their victory by a determined Tykes outfit.

The hosts outscored their visitors 3-1 on tries with Jake Boer, Junior Paramore and Robert Todd touching down - while Craig Emmerson had an interception score for Leeds.

Gloucester, who fielded scrum-half Andy Gomarsall a day after his substitute's outing for England against South Africa, opened their account with a Ludovic Mercier penalty.

Leeds then lost Alix Popham to the sin-bin - and Gloucester struck within two minutes of his departure.

Some excellent approach work ended with skipper Boer powering over for a try that Mercier converted, and it was to get worse for the visitors.

Just four minutes later, with Popham still off the field, Gloucester conjured up a wonderful score.

The entire back-row combined to send over in the corner and Mercier's conversion gave Leeds a mountain to climb.

They took some hope four minutes before the break when Emmerson intercepted a stray Todd pass and galloped clear, with Braam van Straaten kicking the conversion.

But Mercier converted another penalty before the break to give Gloucester a ten-point lead.

Mercier and Van Straaten exchanged penalties early in the second half, and Leeds then raised their game to dominate territorially for long spells.

But they lacked a finishing touch and when Todd scorched over for a try on the hour the game was effectively killed off.