Leicester claim bonus-point win over Gloucester

Leicester Tigers got their campaign back on track courtesy of a 34-16 bonus-point win over Gloucester at Welford Road on Saturday.

In a fast-paced and exciting encounter, both sides gave the ball plenty of air but the Tigers proved too strong in the end and outscored the Cherry and Whites by four tries to one.

Jonny May crossed for a brace and Jonah Holmes also dotted down, while George Ford finished with a 19-point haul thanks to a try, four conversions and two penalties. For Gloucester, Gareth Evans scored a try which was converted by Billy Twelvetrees, who also succeeded with three penalties.

Leicester held the upper-hand for most of this match, thanks to an excellent start in which they held a 13-0 lead by the 20th minute, after May’s first try and superb goalkicking from Ford.

And although Gloucester launched a fightback during the latter stages of the half, they only had two penalties from Twelvetrees to show for their efforts which meant the home side had their tails up with the score 13-6 in their favour at the interval.

Despite employing an expansive game-plan, the Tigers’ pack impressed as they did their basics well and won the forward battle. Back-up hooker Jake Kerr deserves special praise as he replaced the injured Tatafu Polota-Nau in the 18th minute and, despite being under great pressure, Kerr stood up well to the challenge.

With the Tigers forwards dominating, their backs had plenty of front-foot ball and the half-back pairing of Ford and Ben Youngs dictated proceedings.

After their slow start, Gloucester’s confidence grew and they launched several attacks as the match progressed, but they battled to build momentum as they were met by a ferocious defensive effort from the Tigers.

This led to several unforced errors from the Cherry and Whites and a couple of the Tigers’ tries came after their opponents conceded turnovers.

Holmes’ try came early in the second half before May crossed the whitewash again, but Gloucester’s struck back shortly afterwards with Evans’ five-pointer.

The Tigers finished stronger, though, and sealed their win and the bonus-point when Ford dotted down in the 64th minute.

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In other action, there were victories for Exeter Chiefs, Harlequins and Worcester Warriors. Exeter edged out Bristol 14-9 at Sandy Park with Santiago Cordero and Sean Lonsdale scoring the Chiefs’ tries and Gareth Steenson and Joe Simmonds added a conversion each, and Ian Madigan kicked three penalties for Bristol.

Meanwhile at Kingston Park, Harlequins claimed a 38-17 win over Newcastle Falcons. Max Crumpton, Nathan Earle, Gabriel Ibitoye, Alex Dombrandt and Jack Clifford scored tries for Harlequins and Marcus Smith slotted five conversions and a penalty. For the Falcons, Vereniki Goneva and Callum Chick dotted down and Brett Connon added a couple of conversions and a penalty.

And at Sixways, a converted Bryce Heem try in the 98th minute sealed a dramatic 21-19 triumph for Worcester over Bath. Heem scored two tries for the Warriors and Duncan Weir kicked a conversion and three penalties. Bath’s points came via a Zach Mercer try as well as a conversion and four penalties from Freddie Burns.