Drought at an end for Gloucester
GLOUCESTER narrowly survived a disciplinary meltdown to claim their first piece of silverware since 2006 with a nail-biting victory over an Edinburgh side who took them right to the wire.
Gloucester looked to be cruising to victory at 19-6 in front with just 25 minutes to go before flanker Ross Moriarty was sent to the sin bin for a cowardly knee into the back of a prone Edinburgh forward and centre Bill Meakes was shown a red card for a reckless high tackle.
With Gloucester momentarily reduced to 13 men, Edinburgh saw hope and a try from hooker Ross Ford made a remarkable turnaround possible. But despite their numerical advantage, Edinburgh were unable to gain the matchwinning score.
It had looked like it was going to be a straightforward victory.
Man of the match Jonny May enjoyed a superb first half as Gloucester dominated territory and possession in front of 14,316 fans at the Stoop. The Gloucester right wing, dropped by Stuart Lancaster after two games of the Six Nations, looked razor sharp and caused Edinburgh’s defence enormous problems.
After Edinburgh scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne had got his side off to the perfect start with a wellstruck penalty after only three minutes, Gloucester scrum-half Greig Laidlaw — playing against his former club — kicked a penalty of his own to make the score 3-3 after nine minutes.
A clean Gloucester line- out saw the ball worked to fly-half James Hook who flicked a pass behind the line to May, cutting a superb angle through the midfield.
Unlike against Italy during the Six Nations, this time May spotted his support runner on his inside and fed Billy Twelvetrees, who had just enough pace to get across the line for a superbly worked try.
Laidlaw’s conversion made it 10-3 as David Humphreys’ men looked in complete control.
They could have taken an even firmer grip when May made a sensational 70-metre cross-field break that looked destined to finish in a try, only for Edinburgh No 8 Cornell du Preez to pull off an equally brilliant tap tackle to save the day for his side.
Edinburgh lost lock Anton Bressler to the sin bin after 27 minutes but Gloucester didn’t take advantage and Hidalgo- Clyne kicked a penalty with a man down.
Another Laidlaw penalty before the break saw Gloucester go in 13-6 in front and they continued to dominate after the break, with two more penalties from their No 9.
Madness from Moriarty, who was sent to the sin bin on 56 minutes, and Meakes, shown red by French referee Jerome Garces for a high tackle off the ball on Sam Beard eight minutes later, threatened to turn the game on its head.
Ford then bulldozed over for the Scots to set alarm bells ringing, but Gloucester dug deep to weather the storm.