May flowers as Leicester revival grows
Leicester 34 Gloucester 16
JONNY MAY stuck the knife into his old club – before being labelled a national treasure by his boss.
The England wing, who left Gloucester in 2017, scored twice as Leicester jumped up to sixth place in the league from ninth.
There was a masterclass from George Ford at out-half, as he scored 19 points including a try, and some punishing hits from Manu Tuilagi who lasted another 80 minutes.
The Tigers won back-to-back home games for the first time since March and Gloucester’s streak of not winning at Welford Road now stretches to 12 years.
May was at the centre of it, scoring his ninth and 10th tries of season and showing his form ahead of the Six Nations, before coming off after 65 minutes with cramp. Leicester head coach Geordan Murphy said: “Jonny is world class. Guys tend to have a little point to prove playing against their old mates and he was great today. We got him off pretty quickly and he will be important for England in the coming weeks.”
Leicester scored four tries to Gloucester’s one with the visitors missing injured Danny Cipriani’s spark.
Head coach Johan Ackermann said: “Danny obviously has X-factor and skill he can bring. We have to have faith in the whole group though but I felt we can be much better.”
May’s first score came after 11 minutes when he finished off a sweeping move and Ford’s boot kept Gloucester at bay until the break.
A moment of magic from Wallaby centre Matt Toomua just after half-time knocked the stuffing out of the visitors.
The Aussie’s inside pass made a try for full-back Jonah Holmes and when May got his run-in second it was nearly job done.
Ford got the bonus point when he dummied and glided through. TODAY:
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