Leicester 17 Gloucester 12
Leicester Tigers shot up to second place in the Aviva Premiership after a brutal arm-wrestle with fellow title-chasers, Gloucester.
A hugely-physical contest saw referee Andrew Small award four yellow cards - two for each side - and come in for some stinging criticism from Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill for his handling of the scrums.
Leicester enjoyed almost complete dominance in that area of the park but Small only awarded one of his four sin-bins against Gloucester's double-figure penalty count at the set-piece.
"They got penalised ten times at the scrum and were destroyed for most of the game," said a furious Cockerill. "But they only had one man in the bin from that. Where is the consistency."
Tigers centre Anthony Allen scored the only try of the game early in the second half, just minutes after the Cherry & Whites had opened up a 9-3 lead.
By that stage, Gloucester prop Shaun Knight and Tigers half-backs Ben Youngs and George Ford had all been yellow-carded and when the visitors' lock Will James joined them, Geordan Murphy kicked the hosts into an 11-9 lead, with Ford off the field.
Ford - who started after Toby Flood pulled out with injury - made up for two first-half misses by landing a pair of kicks in the final quarter but Freddie Burns' fourth penalty made it 17-12 going into the closing stages.
Gloucester laid siege to the Tigers line and a thrilling climax ended with a turn over before Ben Youngs booted the ball into the stands to the delight of a 24,000 sell-out.
For the full story, see Monday's Leicester Mercury.
Leicester Tigers shot up to second place in the Aviva Premiership after a brutal arm-wrestle with fellow title-chasers, Gloucester.
A hugely-physical contest saw referee Andrew Small award four yellow cards - two for each side - and come in for some stinging criticism from Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill for his handling of the scrums.
Leicester enjoyed almost complete dominance in that area of the park but Small only awarded one of his four sin-bins against Gloucester's double-figure penalty count at the set-piece.
"They got penalised ten times at the scrum and were destroyed for most of the game," said a furious Cockerill. "But they only had one man in the bin from that. Where is the consistency."
Tigers centre Anthony Allen scored the only try of the game early in the second half, just minutes after the Cherry & Whites had opened up a 9-3 lead.
By that stage, Gloucester prop Shaun Knight and Tigers half-backs Ben Youngs and George Ford had all been yellow-carded and when the visitors' lock Will James joined them, Geordan Murphy kicked the hosts into an 11-9 lead, with Ford off the field.
Ford - who started after Toby Flood pulled out with injury - made up for two first-half misses by landing a pair of kicks in the final quarter but Freddie Burns' fourth penalty made it 17-12 going into the closing stages.
Gloucester laid siege to the Tigers line and a thrilling climax ended with a turn over before Ben Youngs booted the ball into the stands to the delight of a 24,000 sell-out.
For the full story, see Monday's Leicester Mercury.
