Tenacious Tigers hold their nerve in dramatic last quarter
SOME familiar names demonstrated a characteristic winning edge to successfully start Leicester’s defence of the AngloWelsh title.
Fly-half Joe Ford, older brother of George, kicked 11 points on his debut while Fred Tuilagi, nephew of Manu, was among a clutch of Leicester fledglings out to make their mark.
Tuilagi, 20, the son of Freddie, Manu’s older brother, gave the Tigers hustle and bustle from No.8 in a contest which crackled into life in the last quarter.
Leicester had stuttered to a 21-10 lead but Gloucester, powered along by a collective forward effort, scored two tries in six minutes to grab a 24-21 lead.
However, Leicester, despite the controversy over Gloucester’s final try, engineered a match-winning try out wide for wing Adam Thompstone.
That proved to be the final score though Gloucester were left thoroughly frustrated as fly-half Lloyd Evans, another on debut, pushed a late penalty wide after Leicester had been penalised at a scrum.
Another talking point was how Welsh referee Craig Evans had allowed Gloucester’s final try when centre Tom Hudson had crashed over from a seemingly blatant Ben Vellacott forward pass.
Referee Evans deliberated with the TMO Sean Brickell, but still awarded the try much to the disgust of the Leicester crowd.
Geordan Murphy, Leicester’s assistant coach, agreed with the home supporters and smiled at the decision afterwards.
“I thought it was a definite forward,” he said about the 64th-minute decision. “But the most pleasing aspect was how we came back from that because it could have been a big emotional setback.”
Overall, Murphy felt Leicester had produced a “rusty” display reflecting the fact that many of the team had not played regularly this season.
Leicester had enjoyed the bulk of possession in the first half yet were unable to score more than one try through centre Charlie Thacker in building a 14-10 lead.
Thacker demonstrated his strength in scoring out wide by shrugging off three Gloucester tacklers before wriggling free.
Ford missed that difficult conversion but made up by landing three penalty goals, all from decent distances to show his quality as a goal kicker.
Leicester had looked at one stage that they would turn round behind because Gloucester, despite the lack of ball, had taken their one chance when prop Paddy McAllister forced his way over at the posts.
Evans improved the 28th-minute try to back up an earlier penalty goal in the 16th minute after he had missed his first kick in the third minute.
The final 30 minutes produced the crucial moments starting in Leicester scoring a second try when wing Jonah Holmes, the former Yorkshire Carnegie player, burst clear off a well-timed pass from centre George Worth.
Ford converted for a Leicester lead of 21-10 which was whittled away by Gloucester’s burst of coherent forward play earning tries for scrumhalf Vellacott and Hudson.
Evans calmly converted both scores but failed to keep his composure for that crucial penalty attempt three minutes from time after Thompstone had grabbed the lead back for Leicester.