Tigers grit it out as forwards dominate
TWO of England’s historic clubs fought a titanic forward battle as Leicester won at Kingsholm for the first time since September 2016.
It was Leicester’s first away win in the Premiership this season and their recent improved form has seen them move up to sixth in the league table.
There was little between the teams but Leicester just had the edge in the forward battle. They won a number of penalties in the scrum area and all three of their tries came from close range.
Leicester director of rugby Steve Borthwick said: “Gloucester have been playing well of late and it’s always a tough place to come.
“We knew that the setpiece would be crucial and it was a great contest out there.
“We didn’t play well in the last 20 minutes but we toughed it out and found a way to win so we are going to enjoy the result.”
Hard-nosed forwards, Hanro Liebenberg and Tom Youngs led the way for Tigers but Gloucester’s Ruan Ackermann and Ed Slater lost nothing in defeat as the two packs slugged it out.
Behind them, two experienced scrum-halves, Willi Heinz and Richard Wigglesworth marshalled their troops efficiently but the visitors had a key advantage at fly-half where Zack Henry outshone his young rival, George Barton, who made a number of important errors.
Leicester also possessed two powerful and busy wings in Kobus Van Wyk and Kiri Murimurivalu but Gloucester couldn’t get their best attacking threat, Santiago Carreras, enough ball to threaten the opposition.
The opening stages were poor with both sides guilty of inaccurate kicking. Barton and Henry, both lost valuable ground by booting the ball straight over the touchline.
Playing with the wind, the visitors had the first chance for points but they twice opted for attacking lineouts instead of kicking for goal. It proved the wrong call as their pack was first held up over the line and then their threequarters spilled the ball.
It was costly as Gloucester took the lead when, after a succession of forward drives, Heinz and Barton combined to provide Santiago Carreras with an easy run-in.
Barton converted superbly from the touchline before Tigers responded when Tom Youngs finished off a driving lineout.
Henry’s conversion brought the scores level before the hosts suffered an injury blow when Alex Seville was forced off for a head injury assessment.
Gloucester soon received another setback by conceding a second try when the visitors’ backs joined a driving lineout for centre Dan Kelly to force his way over.
Henry missed the conversion but knocked over a straightforward penalty to give his side a 15-7 interval lead.
After the restart a break from Carreras put Gloucester on the front foot before a well-judged pass from Heinz saw Slater power over.
After changing their whole front row, Tigers responded with a sustained period of pressure and, following a break from Henry, Harry Wells crashed over for their third try.
Leicester looked set for victory but ill-discipline gave their opponents a chance to steal the match but another poor kick from Barton and some stout defence from Tigers saw them home.