Kicking masterclass from Carreras puts on-song Gloucester into semis
Carreras kicked six penalties to steer Gloucester to a European Challenge Cup semi-final after a 23-13 win over Ospreys in front of a raucous crowd at Kingsholm.
The deserved victory earned them a home semi-final against the winners of the Benetton v Connacht fixture tomorrow.
Hooker Seb Blake scored their only try to reward their pack who shaded the forward battle by placing Ospreys under pressure in both scrum and line-out with Ruan Ackermannandzachmercerpunching holes in their defence.
Keelan Giles scored an excellent try for the Welsh side with former Gloucester player Owen Williams adding two penalties and a conversion but they will rue their ill-discipline on the night as they were penalised at will by the French referee.
A simple penalty from Carreras gave Gloucester an early lead but they soon fell behind to a superb try. On half-way, Adam Hastings over-hit a chip ahead, which Jack Walsh collected at pace to run 45 metres before providing Giles with an easy run-in.
Williams converted before Carreras kicked his second penalty to leave his side trailing 7-6 at the end of a competitive first quarter.
A poor straight into touch clearance from Stephen Varney then gifted the visitors an attacking platform from where Williams extended his side’s lead with a straightforward penalty. Another score came when Ospreys lost a line-out and Blake finished off a driving line-out. Carreras missed the touchline conversantiago sion but succeeded with his third penalty.
With the last kick of the half, Williams booted his second penalty to leave Gloucester with a 14-13 advantage.
Gloucester got the first points of the second half with another penalty from Carreras, who was soon on target again with his fifth as Ospreys skipper continued to debate decisions with referee Pierre Brousset.
Brousset was quickly signalling another penalty in Gloucester’s favour, this time from a scrum, and again Carreras made no mistake to send the hosts into the semi-finals.