A resurgent Gloucester came within four minutes of a deserved draw at Welford Road, but somehow stuttering Leicester managed to steal a win, with Toby Flood kicking a penalty.
However, it will be Gloucester who will take most from this match. Gone was the ganderflanking of some previous games. This was about grit, determination and intent, as well as some sparkling back play at times, with Charlie Sharples and Mike Tindall prominent.
As Gloucester’s Director of Rugby Nigel Davies said afterwards, this performance at Leicester must now be their benchmark. But if only their scrum could be more stable. It really was a liability at times.
His Leicester counterpart, Richard Cockerill, could only reflect on a “poor performance.” The victory, he said, was the only positive from a poor afternoon.
At times, Leicester were befuddled and bemused, with a verbal spat between Flood and Mulipola illustrating their frustrations. Gloucester will look at the replays and rue missed opportunities in the first quarter when points went begging. It was 3 all at half time.
Ten minutes after the restart Gloucester were ahead 3 - 8. The ball was sent out wide to
Martyn Thomas, who managed to skilfully flick an inside pass behind his back to send Sharples shooting over the line from inside the 22. Rob Cook was unable to convert.
Although they kicked Leicester backwards for the next ten minutes or so, the Tigers finally came surging forward and they got their reward when Youngs fed Flood who sent Tait over. A missed conversion meant it was again all square at 8 all; with ten minutes to go.
And while the most hardened Gloucester fan might have had faith in the Cherry and Whites becoming the third team to draw at Welford Road this season, most rugby followers would have instantly and instinctively known there was only going to be one result.
And there you have it, the moment we were all waiting for, an official to make an irrational decision to penalise Gloucester for not feeding the ball straight in the scrum. Expected? Yes. Amazed? No. Frustrated? Very; especially as Luke Pearce hadn't brought this to our attention for the last seventy-odd minutes!
With four minutes from time, another Gloucester infringement at the scrum gave Flood the inevitable opportunity to convert the winning penalty from around 23 metres.
To their credit, Gloucester did manage to regain the ball from the restart, but rather than keep the ball in hand and work their way forward for position, they eventually kicked across field and all hopes of at least a draw were gone.
A poor performance from the Tigers resulted in a win. How? Yes we were all left asking that very question. Leicester never give up without a fight but this time, it was the touch judge who made that game-changing decision and handed them the win, on a plate.
Gloucester restored their pride today but this episode begs the question, if TMO's are called upon to verify what did happen,when can they be called upon to clarify what didn't happen? Discuss.
NB: 'ganderflanking' is a centuries-old Wiltshire word for messing around, which is becoming popular once more.