They cannot complain about the outcome – a maximum five points and a return to the top four with three rounds to play – but if there were an award for failing to capitalise on not just pressure but incision too, Leicester would be champions. An extraordinary second quarter saw Gloucester score 21 points to take a 17-point lead at one stage, despite playing on the back foot for almost the entirety of the rest of the match. It was not until the 74th minute, when Vereniki Goneva went over for their fifth try, that Leicester finally managed to retake a lead they had played as if was theirs by right in the opening quarter.
“We had so much dominance we just decided we could do what we wanted,” said an exasperated Richard Cockerill. “The minute you do that, it’ll bite you on the backside. I’m really happy with the result, really unhappy with that 20 minutes. It’s not acceptable, and if we think it is we’re kidding ourselves.”
Nevertheless, for the neutral, this was a wonderful match, an exhilarating return to the sunshine and firmer grounds we enjoyed at the World Cup. “If you want entertainment, hey boys, we’ve got entertainment,” said Cockerill. “At Welford Road. How did that happen?”
And the news for England is that Manu Tuilagi is making steady progress back towards the barnstorming force of nature we know so well. He scored twice and had a hand in two more of Leicester’s five tries. Ben Morgan, too, making a return for Gloucester, had a forceful game with ball in hand and at close quarters. Eddie Jones will have enjoyed this one, and he won’t have been the only one.
Peter Betham won the man of the match award, but there were plenty of candidates. The Islanders in Leicester’s back division were in fabulous form, tearing Gloucester apart from the off. The wonder is that Gloucester were able to stay in the contest, let alone romp into the lead in the second quarter.
Leicester had finished the first quarter two tries to the good, with Tuilagi making the telling pass for the first, finished by Telusa Veainu, and scoring the second. Those were just the highlights of 20 minutes of almost one-way traffic. Leicester were cruising – and that was their problem, because they were only four points ahead at the end of that first quarter, with both tries unconverted and Greig Laidlaw landing his every kick at goal. Then Gloucester suddenly scored three tries in 10 minutes on the approach to half-time, all of them converted. The first came from an intercept in their own 22, finished by Steve McColl. It seemed just a blip, in light of what had gone before, but now Gloucester were awake – and they had the lead somehow.
Henry Trinder increased it with a fine stepping run to the line, before Paddy McAllister’s pick-and-go opened up that 17-point lead. Leicester were shaking their heads in bewilderment. A penalty on the stroke of half-time, though, pulled them back to within two scores.
They burst into life all over again after the break, Tuilagi stepping and crashing his way through the midfield seven minutes in. The storm lulled midway through the second half, as Owen Willliams and Laidlaw exchanged penalties, but Leicester whipped it up again for the final 15 minutes.
Off a stolen lineout, Tuilagi drew two defenders and off-loaded to send Betham to the line for the bonus-point try with 12 minutes to go. And the match-winner followed six minutes later. Dazzling passing down the right took the Tigers deep into Gloucester territory, and Betham’s long pass found Goneva in acres of space.
They can certainly play when they want to. Entertainment at Welford Road? It may just catch on.
