Rampant Gloucester run seven tries past London Irish
GLOUCESTER have their heart set on winning the Anglo-Welsh Cup final when it is held for the first time at their home ground in March.
They made their intention clear by selecting a powerful line-up which had too many guns for a youthful Irish side on whom they inflicted a seven try thrashing.
Gloucester coach Tim Taylor said: “It’s an important tournament for us and we have the depth in our squad to win it. However, we are in a tough group so it was necessary to get the bonus point after Bath’s late win last night.
“We selected a strong side as we wanted some of our squad to have game time ahead of next Friday’s match against Saracens.”
On paper, it was a mismatch and so it proved as Gloucester had too much forward power. Relentless driving from Richard Hibbard and John Afoa battered Irish into submission, and they had no energy left in the final 20 minutes to repel the onslaught.
Despite dominating from the outset, it took Gloucester until the second quarter to open their account.
A slippery ball on a rainsodden pitch had resulted in a number of elementary handling errors but eventually a stout Irish defence cracked when the alert Will Heinz caught them unawares by quickly tapping a penalty and darting over.
It wasn’t long before they had their second when Burns and Hibbard made large dents in the Irish defence before Val RapavaRuskin forced his way over from close range.
In the first half-hour Irish offered little; one welljudged kick from Luke McLean put Tom Hudson under some pressure, but it took them until the 33rd minute to mount a serious attack.
Theo Brophy Clews then made a neat break and it looked promising before his pass was deliberately knocked forward by Heinz, who was yellow carded.
Burns assumed the scrum-half role but the skipper’s absence was hardly missed as Gloucester extended their lead when Billy Twelvetrees sent Hudson in under the posts, with the Irish defence nowhere.
Trailing 19-0 at the interval, Irish had a mountain to climb but despite the return of Heinz, they surprisingly opened their account when Ollie Hoskins forced his way over.
The respite was only temporary as Gloucester’s forwards resumed control resulting in four converted tries to ram home their superiority.
Jeremy Thrush claimed the bonus point before Henry Trinder skated along the left hand touchline for the best solo score.
Further tries from Calum Braley and Jake Polledri completed the rout before James Hanson was yellow carded for sacking an Irish line-out – but the visitors couldn’t add to their tally.
Irish coach George Skivington said: “When I saw the strength of their side, it was a bit of a shock but it was a great experience for some of our lads to run out at Kingsholm to play against British Lions and internationals.
“The youngsters did everything that we asked of them as we had two lads straight out of school but they outmuscled us as we were virtually playing against a full Premiership team.
“We haven’t got the biggest squad in the world to commit to this competition and our energy is directed to remaining in the Premiership.”