Try time: Akapusi Qera scores for Gloucester

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Teams

• Gloucester
• Leicester

Gloucester outscored Leicester three tries to two at Kingsholm to claim a crucial 27-21 Premiership victory on Saturday.

Gloucester edged a classic encounter, overcoming a double sin-binning in the second-half to hang on for the win.

Both teams headed into the match on the back of victories in European competition and went on to play their part in a thrilling contest on their return to Aviva Premiership action.

The hosts got off to the best possible start, with Charlie Sharples getting on the end of Freddie Burns' grubber to cross. Burns added the conversion and knocked over a penalty on nine minutes, after Toby Flood had got Leicester off the mark with the boot.

The visitors then narrowed Gloucester's advantage to two when the TMO ruled that Scott Hamilton's dive for the right corner was a try, but Flood's conversion miss preserved the hosts' lead.

There was little between the sides at this early stage, and it took an excellent piece of improvisation from Burns to increase the gap between the two teams.

He snapped up his own chip over the Leicester defence to score, before converting, to make it 17-8 to Gloucester with a quarter of the match played.

Flood's penalty just moments from half-time put the Tigers within a converted try and it was to remain close for the majority of the second half.

Burns and Flood exchanged penalties seven and nine minutes after the restart, before James Simpson-Daniel broke to lay the platform for Akapusi Qera to score a vital try.

But then, following a double Gloucester sin-binning for Jimmy Cowan and Robert Cook, Leicester found a way back into the match courtesy of a penalty try awarded at scrum.

Flood's conversion made it 27-21 but, despite the numerical advantage, the Tigers were unable to strike again. And with a full compliment back on the field, Gloucester were able to hold on during a frantic final 15 minutes to secure a thrilling win.

The scorers:

For Gloucester :
Tries: Sharples, Burns, Qera
Cons: Burns 3
Pens: Burns 2
Yellow cards: Cook, Cowan

For Leicester:
Tries: Hamilton, Penalty try
Cons: Flood
Pens: Flood

Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall (c), 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Ben Morgan 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Will James, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Huia Edmonds, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Koree Britton, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Peter Buxton, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Martyn Thomas, 23 Shane Monahan.

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Thomas Waldrom, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Graham Kitchener, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.

Venue: Kingsholm
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Andrew Pearce, Kevin Stewart
Television match official: David Grashoff
Timekeeper: Anthony Turner
Assessor: Gary Welsh