Leicester Tigers v Gloucester: Five takeaways as ‘irresistible’ trio shine while returning Lion ‘warms cockles’ of Steve Borthwick’s heart
Solomone Kata and Ollie Chessum impressed for Leicester Tigers.
Following a 45-14 win for Leicester Tigers over Gloucester, here are our five takeaways from Friday night’s Gallagher Prem clash at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
The top line
Leicester reclaimed the Slater Cup and joined Bath at the top of the Gallagher Prem by hammering Gloucester with a magnificent seven-try display in the East Midlands.
Geoff Parling’s side bossed the game from start to finish, despite losing replacement hooker Charlie Clare to a 20-minute red card for a dangerous clear-out inside the final quarter.
Prop Nicky Smith, Solomone Kata and Freddie Steward were in irresistible form as Tigers moved alongside Bath on 26 points and collected the trophy named in honour of Ed Slater, a star of both clubs before his MND diagnosis.
Afterwards Parling warned: “I think there’s a lot more to come from the team. I think we can push on. My expectations for the group are big, though only if we continue to push each other.”
A horrible experience for the visitors saw Seb Blake and Rob Russell lost to injury inside the first half hour, Seb Atkinson later fail an HIA and Saracens-bound skipper Tomos Williams endure a forgettable night.
While Leicester celebrated their fourth league win in a row, their 10th in succession at Welford Road, Gloucester fell to their sixth in seven games in the Prem and remain one off the foot of the table.
Solomone Kata a class apart
By the end Leicester had scored so many points you might be forgiven for forgetting the try by their dual-code Tongan which set them on their way. Were it not utterly unforgettable.
With 21 minutes gone Kata took the ball from a set scrum 40 metres out, broke against the grain with an arcing run which completely wrong-footed the Gloucester defence and hared over for one of the tries of the season.
Kata had a hugely impressive game. He had a hand in James Thompson’s opening try and according to Chris Ashton, charged with picking the player of the match, had done enough to get the nod by half-time.
Yet so eye-catching were Tigers, whose other tries came from Tom Whiteley, Tommy Reffell, Billy Searle, a fit-again Ollie Chessum and a penalty try, that the 31-year old had a rival for score of the night, Searle registering an individual beauty on 64 minutes following a missed Williams touch finder.
Tale of two Atkinsons
Gloucester’s night was rather summed up by a bizarre episode on the stroke of half-time after Searle had chipped laterally to Ollie Hassell-Collins.
The Leicester wing grubbered between two defenders and was tearing towards the line when England centre Seb Atkinson produced a stunning tap-tackle to bring him to ground.
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Hassell-Collins, however, kept going and as he reached for the line Charlie Atkinson slid in off his feet to prevent the try. That is illegal according to the laws of the game and he was sin-binned and Leicester awarded a penalty try.
Factor in the injuries, a penalty count which decisively went against them and a failure to capitalise on entries into Tigers. 22 until the cause was long lost, and it made for a depressing away day for Glaws fans.
Prop wars
He did not get on the scoresheet but the power behind Leicester’s triumph came from Sale-bound tighthead prior Smith.
Up against Nepo Laulala, Gloucester’s All Black loosehead, the Welshman played such a blinder that the Samoan-born Kiwi was hauled off seven minutes after half-time.
Not before the pair had to be kept apart by match officials as they left the field at half-time with Laulala accusing Smith of illegally hinging at scrum-time and the blood-splattered Tiger taking exception to the accusation.
“In that first half there were a couple of overbalances from Leicester, but the problems were with Gloucester, with Nepo Laulala,” said David Flatman, England prop turned TNT Sports pundit.
“What he was doing was trying to get a big hit on Nicky Smith, but he was leaving his feet behind, getting super long.
“He was accusing Nicky Smith on the way in of hinging at the hips. I don’t think he was doing that. Nicky Smith is allowed to go up and down a little bit. That’s his right. Not too much, but he says, ‘It’s not my job to hold up Laulala, you can do that yourself, mate’.”
Gloucester responded by replacing Laulala with Afolabi Fasogbon, but the match was lost at 31-0 and anyway Fasogbon proceeded to be popped up out of his first scrum by the force Smith put through him. Sale Sharks fans will have loved what they saw.
Two reasons to be cheerful for England head coach Steve Borthwick
Chessum had not played rugby since suffering a foot injury playing for England against Fiji at Twickenham six weeks ago.
The sight of the big Lions second-row galloping onto a smart Jamie Blamire offload and away from the Gloucester rearguard will have warmed the cockles of Borthwick’s heart.
Steward’s performance will have pleased the boss of the national team even more as his was an 80-minute production. From winning his first aerial contest to taking another with the first act of the second half, breaking the Gloucester defensive line and putting over Whiteley, he was a constant attacking threat.
“There’s no shying away from it, the attacking side of my game probably hasn’t been a strength the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s been a challenge for me to try to add strings to my bow.
“It’s more of a confidence thing. Getting my hands on the ball, wanting to run, wanting to beat defenders and just play with a smile on my face and with a bit of confidence.
“I’ve probably been shoe boxed a bit with my high ball stuff. It’s nice to be able to show a bit of the other side of my game. Hopefully people can see I’ve been working hard on that.”