The Premiership season will this weekend reach its halfway stage and an early contender for player of the season is Leicester’s Telusa Veainu whose seventh try of the campaign, as well as being the highlight of a slow-burning match, created the platform for the Tigers to plunder victory in the closing minutes.
The quick and elusive Tongan was on the left wing having spent most of the campaign at full-back and, after his 69th-minute try brought Leicester back into the game, the threat he posed forced the Gloucester No8, Ben Morgan, to impede him as he looked to support a counterattack five minutes from time.
Morgan was sent to the sin-bin and, though Leicester failed to score from the scrum they opted for, they moved the ball wide where the prop Logovi’i Mulipola found the space to score the try that needed Tom Bell’s conversion to secure a victory that had looked improbable an hour before when Gloucester led 12-0.
Veainu’s arrival at Welford Road has been timely as Leicester look to expand their portfolio beyond set-piece dominance and kicking. Under their coach, Aaron Mauger, they have developed a penchant for off-loading and attacking from turnover possession, as Veainu’s try showed when he caught a high kick in his own 22 and, instead of looking to hoist it downfield, found the wing Peter Betham, who exploited a disorganised defence to break out.
“We are growing as a group and it will take a season or two,” said Mathew Tait, who captained the side in the absence of the injured Ed Slater. “There is a lot more emphasis on passing and handling and becoming more efficient at the basics. It is a lot better than chasing kicks but we are not looking to reinvent the wheel. We have to be patient.”
Leicester’s daring with ball in hand was matched by their resilience in defence. Trailing 15-7 at half-time, they spent most of the third quarter pinned in their own 22 but Gloucester could not find a way through and the home side’s decision to go for a lineout rather than bank three kickable points ultimately proved costly.
“It is easy to talk about that decision in hindsight but you have to back the players,” said the Gloucester director of rugby, David Humphreys. “They are the ones with the feel of a game. We had an opportunity for the lineout but conceded a penalty and it was a big moment in the game. Ben’s yellow card was a big decision that looked harsh but it did not cost us a game we had ample opportunities to win.”
Morgan scored Gloucester’s second try, created by another player discarded by his country, James Hook, who three minutes earlier had scored the first of the game. The home side looked in control against opponents weakened by international call-ups, injuries and a suspension to their hooker Tom Youngs.
Last season Leicester lacked the wherewithal to win away when they were some way below full strength but such is their threat now in broken play and their willingness to look for opportunities beyond a driving maul or a scrum that a side who missed out on the past two Premiership finals having become a pale version of themselves are ready to challenge again.
Gloucester McColl; Sharples, Meakes (Atkinson, 63), Twelvetrees (capt), Halaifonua (B Burns, 75); Hook, Heinz (Laidlaw, 52); McAllister (Wood, 52), Hibbard, Doran-Jones (N Thomas, 55), Savage, Thrush (Galarza, 65), Kalamafoni, Rowan (Kvesic, 55), Morgan.
Tries Hook, Morgan. Con Hook. Pens Hook 2.
Sin-bin Morgan 75.
Leicester Bell; Betham, Tait (capt), Smith, Veainu; F Burns (Roberts, 74), Harrison; Ayerza, Bateman (Thacker, 72), Balmain (Mulipola, 63), Barrow, Kitchener, Fitzgerald, Croft (Crane, 55), McCaffrey.
Tries Ayerza, Veainu, Mulipola. Con Burns, Bell.
Referee JP Doyle. Attendance 16,115.
