Ross Martinovic,

Correspondent (Sport)

 

Gloucester withstood a spirited late rally from Leicester Tigers to edge a 27-21 thriller at Kingsholm.

The Cherry and Whites began in blistering fashion as England winger, Charlie Sharples, gathered Freddie Burns’ perfectly weighted grubber kick to touch down in the first minute. Scott Hamilton’s try edged Leicester in front after Toby Flood and Burns had exchanged penalties.

Burns then scored a sublime individual effort as he gathered his own delicate chip over the defence before adding the conversion. Flood struck two penalties either side of the break to Burns’ one, as the match remained delicately poised. But James Simpson Daniel’s weaving run from inside his half set the stage for Akapusi Qera to dive over in the shadow of the posts as the hosts pulled away.

Gloucester then lost Jimmy Cowan and Rob Cook to the sin bin as Leicester fought to salvage something from the match, with their pressure eventually paying off with a penalty try. The seven-time Premiership champions continued to toil for a winner but Gloucester defended admirably to seal a memorable win.

Thirty miles up the M5 at Sixways, Worcester Warriors piled more misery on basement side Sale Sharks, whose Director of Rugby, Bryan Redpath, was removed from his post in the week after the match. The Warriors led 16-8 at half time through David Lemi’s superb solo score and 11 points from the boot of Andy Goode after Mark Cueto had scored the opener for Sale.

A Danny Cipriani penalty, to add to a strike in the first half, reduced the deficit to five points before Nick MacLeod equalised for the Sharks. Goode then scored and converted a try to nudge Worcester in front and the West Midlanders held on to condemn Sale to a seventh straight Premiership defeat.

Elsewhere, Bath survived Dan Hipkiss’ red card to overcome Exeter Chiefs 23-15 at The Rec, while Alex Goode scored the only try of the match as Saracens’ hard-fought 16-6 win ended Northampton Saints’ unbeaten home record.

In Sunday’s matches, champions Harlequins controversially defeated London Irish 31-28 in a high-scoring affair.

With the scoreboard reading 26-28 in favour of Irish with less than a minute to go at the Madejski Stadium, Harlequins’ Tom Casson appeared to have dropped Ugo Monye’s pass with the line at his mercy.

The decision was referred to the television match official, who ruled that Casson had fumbled the ball onto his knee before grounding the ball. Referee Tim Wigglesworth hence awarded the try to hand the visitor’s victory, much to the dismay of the Reading crowd.

In High Wycombe, meanwhile, London Wasps’ flying wingers Christian Wade and Tom Varndell both bagged a brace of tries as they defeated local rivals London Welsh 29-19.