Leicester consolidated their place amongst the Premiership's leaders after they ground out a 17-12 win over Gloucester at Welford Road on Saturday.
Despite the Tigers having the majority of the chances in the first half, the Cherry and Whites went into the break 6-3 ahead through two Freddie Burns' penalties to George Ford's one.
Burns added two further three-pointers in the second period, but Anthony Allen's try and the respective boots of Ford and Geordan Murphy gained Leicester a vital victory.
In a scrappy and attritional opening, the West Country outfit struggled to control proceedings with Leicester dominant in the set-piece.
And Ford opened the scoring with a penalty, but Burns quickly levelled proceedings with one of his own after seven minutes. The visitors were finding it difficult to stop the hosts' powerful scrum and another infringement in that area saw Shaun Knight sin-binned.
However, the Tigers' stand-off was awry with the boot twice in the opening period. That allowed Gloucester to gradually build a platform and Burns took Nigel Davies' team ahead.
Leicester were further hampered going into half-time when Ben Youngs was yellow carded, but the away team failed to take advantage.
Although Burns did extend Gloucester's lead when Ford became the third player to spend 10 minutes off the field, the Tigers crossed the whitewash through Allen.
Murphy, taking over the kicking duties, missed the conversion, but took the home side into an 11-9 lead with a three-pointer when Will James was sin-binned.
The respective stand-offs then traded penalties, but Ford's 70th minute effort proved decisive as the Midlands' outfit held on.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Try: Allen
Pens: Ford 3, Murphy
Yellow Cards: Youngs (34 min), Ford (44 min)
For Gloucester: Pens: Burns 4
Yellow Cards: Knight (23 min), James (53 min)
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Louis Deacon (c), 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Steve Mafi, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford23 Matt Smith
Gloucester: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Shane Monahan, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Akapusi Qera,6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Jim Hamilton (c),4 Will James,3 Shaun Knight, 2 Huia Edmonds, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Tim Molenaar, 23 Dave Lewis.
Referee: Andrew Small
Comments
melkdave says...
Given the conditions that was some game,yes some strange refeering decisions,but then doesnt every game have those atm.Also some strage decision making by Leicester imo,kept Gloucester in the match.For a neautral rugby fan though it was well worth watching.
Posted 00:48 30th December 2012
InsideCentre says...
Some strange refereeing at this game. Andrew Small repeatedly ignored his assistant at the scrum for Glaws binding on the arm. Leicester should have been clear away but Small kept Glaws in it.
InsideCentre, Berkshire. (BTW a good away win for Wasps....outside contenders for top 4??)
Posted 20:15 29th December 2012