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Gloucester’s Greig Laidlaw kicks 18 points as Leicester slump again Gloucester’s Greig Laidlaw kicks 18 points as Leicester slump again
(about 2 hours later)
Leicester were looking to avoid a third successive Premiership defeat, but failed, and it said a lot about their predicament that they gave a debut to the 39-year old Brad Thorn. The Tigers could have done with a few roses, blooming awful from the start two weeks after a record defeat in another part of the west country and they will slump to 10th in the table if Sale beat Wasps on Sunday. The only consolation for them is that Bristol are not in the Premiership. Leicester failed to avoid a third successive Premiership defeat here and it said a lot about their predicament that they gave a debut to a 39-year-old, Brad Thorn. The Tigers could have done with a few roses, having been blooming awful from the start two weeks after a record defeat in another part of the West Country and they will slump to 10th in the table if Sale beat Wasps .
Gloucester have been typically fickle this season and it took them a while to appreciate that all that was Leicester-like about their opponents was their kit. Not much happened in the opening quarter apart from an exchange of kicks in the air and off the ground and Freddie Burns, making his first return here since leaving for the Midlands in the summer, was loudly booed. The presence of London Welsh means there will be no relegation fears, but the Tigers’ customary place in the top four looks in jeopardy. They have a horribly high number of players who are injured, a number that increased when Mathew Tait left the field dazed 19 minutes in, but it is not only bodies that are absent: so too are virtues that are usually ingrained in anyone who wears the Leicester jersey, such as indefatigability, cussedness and a collective will.
Greig Laidlaw kicked three penalties to Owen Williams’s two. Gloucester wasted an early opportunity when Billy Twelvetrees passed without thinking but Leicester’s ordinariness was evident immediately, even allowing for an injury list of more than 20 that increased after 18 minutes when Mathew Tait was dazed in a tackle. They carried no threat and showed even less appetite. The Tigers did stave off a record Premiership defeat to Gloucester, something that looked unlikely at half-time when they trailed 30-9, but that had as much to do with the home side’s inability to remain composed as they tried to lift the pace of the game – the bonus point that should long have been theirs was finally denied them three minutes from time when Charlie Sharples knocked on one metre out after glorious approach play from Rob Cook and James Hook – as any belated hardening of green resolve.
One of the reasons Burns gave for leaving was his desire to play behind a pack that had several forward gears, rather than only one that had a tendency to slip into reverse. He had a sense of déjà vu at the first scrum as it retreated towards him and he had a hand in the game’s opening try on 19 minutes when he took his time over an attempted clearance and it was charged down by the second-row Tom Savage. What will make the video review all the more galling for the Leicester director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, was that while Bath had been opponents playing close to the peak of their powers, Gloucester were like a faulty switch, sometimes on, more often off, helped on their way by a donation from one of their old boys, Freddie Burns, who after a few years of playing behind beaten packs here and having to hurry his clearance kicks had a distinct sense if deja vu.
Burns felt he was impeded as he gave chase with Savage for the ball 10 metres from the Leicester line, but he picked up for the prop Nick Wood to mark his first appearance of the season with a try. Burns put his side under pressure from the restart by kicking the ball out of play on the full, typical of the sloppiness that had seized his side, which had a horribly porous defence. Burns was meant to have been on the bench, but Seremaia Bai failed a fitness test on a calf muscle injury and the England fly-half started. Leicester, playing against the breeze in the first half, were 9-6 down after 19 minutes and had just lost Tait when Burns gave himself too much time to kick downfield and was charged down by Tom Savage. Burns felt he was held back as he chased the second-row to be the first to the bounce, but the hard-nosed edge associated with the Tigers, the undimmed will to win, was absent, as Gloucester’s second try showed.
Rob Cook made territory too easily from his own half and Gloucester’s second try showed that injuries do not wholly account for Leicester’s slump: Richard Hibbard stormed the gainline, but there was no midfield pressure on Ben Morgan and the No8 passed long to Charlie Sharples who beat Vereniki Goneva on the outside and then wrong-footed Blaine Scully. The prop Nick Wood, making his first appearance of the season, scored the first, supporting Savage on the inside. The second involved a rather longer run by the scorer but it started after Gloucester again won the contest for a loose ball: Robert Barbieri was too easily pushed away by Matt Kvesic after Richard Hibbard’s long throw missed its target, and when the No8 Ben Morgan received possession in an uncongested midfield, he had the time to consider his options before providing Sharples with a long pass. The wing accelerated away from Vereniki Goneva before stepping inside Blaine Scully, who had moved to full-back.
It was too simple and after Leicester had opted to kick a third penalty after a rare attack rather than go for something more, Gloucester scored their third try despite messing up a line-out: Matt Vesicle tried to prevent Robert Barrier from reaching the bouncing ball first with a little tug, but the home side’s desire was far stronger than that of their opponents. Leicester than launched their first real attack of the match, which culminated in OwenWilliams’s third penalty, but Gloucester were soon breaking through a weak defence again, Hook and Cook freeing Jonny May with swift passes.
James Hook, who had his most impressive game in a Gloucester shirt in front of the Wales coaching duo of Warren Garland and Robert Hawley, linked with Cook who passed with equal alacrity to Jonny May outside him and, with Leicester having a centre, Matt Smith, on the wing with Scully taking over from Tait at full-back, the England wing was away to make it 30-9 to Gloucester at the break and in sight of a record Premiership victory against the Tigers, who lost here 34-6 in 1999. The second period was largely made up of Gloucester handling errors and Leicester scrums. Greig Laidlaw’s fourth penalty was the home side’s only score of the second period and it left the crowd, if hardly disappointed after a hefty victory over a notable opponent, having a sense of anti-climax at the final whistle. Sharples’s knock-on was the worst of a series of blemishes that showed how far Gloucester have to go: for all the performances of Hook, Laidlaw, Morgan, Savage and Cook, the Cherry and Whites remain more individual than collective.
Leicester stiffened up after the break without showing any menace but as they chased the bonus point, Gloucester showed they remain far from champion. Laidlaw extended their lead with his fourth penalty on 57 minutes, but as they tried to lift the pace of the game, they made unforced errors and not even a one-man advantage for 10 minutes was enough to help them to a fourth try. Leicester, who lost Goneva to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle, had the last word when David Mele supported Scully’s break, but it was weaker than a whisper. They have been here before, bottom but one three years ago after losing three in a row at the same stage of the season only to reach the final, and they have signed on loan the Wales second-row Lou Reed from Cardiff Blues.
Goneva was given 10 minutes off for an arms-free challenge, although Miles Benjamin was also fortunate not to see yellow at the same time for a tip tackle on Sharples. The game was meandering when Cook broke more weak tackles with four minutes to go and Hook drifted in and out of four tackles on a mazy run into the Tigers’ 22. He was brought down by David Mele five metres short but passed to Sharples who, distracted by Dan Robson, knocked on. “We will stick together and we will come out on the other side,” said Cockerill. “We face Harlequins on Friday night and it has become a big game. We have a huge number of injuries, but we should have been better organised and, after a decent start, we unravelled after we gave away a try. People need to understand the position we are in and I am confident we will turn things around.”
Mele finished the scoring, supporting Scully’s breakaway but it was another chastening day for Leicester who entertain Harlequins on Friday, a team that knows hos to win at Welford Road.
“It is a big game for us,” said the Leicester director of rugby, Richard Cockerill. “We have injuries and losing Mathew Tait did not help, but we wasted a good start by letting the match get away from us after we gave away a try. Being where we are after five games is not ideal and we need to get a win.”