Gloucester and Leicester Tigers Play Out Opening Night Thriller

September has landed, and unlike last year when we were gearing up for a Rugby World Cup we found ourselves taking our seats for a new Aviva Premiership season that promises to be competitive, thrilling, and full of more talent than ever before.

Kingsholm Stadium was host to the first game of the season. Leicester Tigers travelled west to meet Gloucester, who themselves would have been looking for redemption following their 35-30 loss to the Tigers in their last encounter despite being 27-13 up at half-time.

The cherry and white of Gloucester opened the game strongly - dominating possession in the first 5 minutes. Pressure told, and when the defence finally cracked tight-head prop John Afoa made a 30-metre break, only for a last ditch tackle to halt him before the white line.

Playing in Leicester’s new fluorescent green away strip, Manu Tuilagi was back fit and providing the Gloucester defence with some barnstorming runs and offloads that would each time take two or three players out of the defensive line. Ben Morgan of Gloucester also looked sharp as he powered through a number of tackles early on, and it was perhaps the Burns family who had their hearts in their mouths most as brothers Freddie and Billy squared up at fly-half.

On the 12-minute mark, Leicester hadn’t responded to early pressure, and it was all Gloucester to the delight of a packed Kingsholm. On the left flank Matt Kvesic found his way through a gap and he offloaded well to Twelvetrees who laid a nice inside pass to Matt Scott to finish the job – scoring on his Premiership debut for Gloucester. Laidlaw converted and made it 7-0.

Following the wake up call, the Tigers finally began to threaten. Telusa Veainu came off his wing and beat half of the Gloucester team with his dazzling footwork in midfield, and his elusive running left the defence scrambling. Burns utilized the territory and kicked towards JP Pietersen on the left wing, and the South African debutant picked up and ran for the line, only to be halted agonizingly short but then found the on-running Tuilagi, who scored and settled the Leicester nerves – much to his delight.

Gloucester still looked strong and Leicester’s Matthew Tait was certainly having a night to forget. After 20 minutes the full-back threw a stray pass that was plucked from the air by Gloucester winger Charlie Sharples – who galloped to the line and put Gloucester in front. Only minutes later Tait also found himself ambushed in his own half following a quick line-out, and gave away a penalty in front of the posts for Laidlaw to slot and give Gloucester a 17-7 lead. His luck turned when he was charged down by Billy Burns just outside the Leicester 22, only for the fly-half to throw a forward pass after being tackled just shy of the line.

Leicester still didn’t look clinical. Multiple fumbles in attack along with poor execution in the danger zone only gave Gloucester more possession and the midlands side dipped further behind after Tuilagi rushed out of the line to close down Twelvetrees. Twelvetrees stepped relatively easily and capitalized on a huge overlap on the right flank to allow Matt Scott to score again following some slick offloading. Leicester quickly responded with a strong attack, but upon reaching the 5-metre line they were yet again turned over after Peter Betham bravely ran a crash ball into three Gloucester players and knocked on – leaving it 24-7 at the break.

Emerging from the break, Leicester knew the game was not done. They started the second half well, but they quickly lost momentum as Peter Betham strayed sideways in attack and lost the ball in a tackle. James Hook – who was now on for the injured Billy Burns – gathered the ball and facing only Veainu in defence delivered it to Henry Purdy who evaded a last gasp defensive effort from the Tongan to neatly finish.

Now leading 31-7, the game looked well and truly put to bed. But those who remember the tussle between these two sides last year would never have bet against the Tigers, and almost immediately a jubilant crowd was silenced by JP Pietersen, who crossed on the left wing following a brilliant offload from flanker Brendan O’Connor. The boot of Freddie Burns guided the ball over and it was 31-14 with 48 minutes gone.

It all looked to be crumbling for Gloucester as Freddie Burns kicked through for Thompstone to chase, and the efforts of Henry Purdy were not enough to prevent the substitute from touching down and seemingly putting Leicester right back in it. Wayne Barnes then went upstairs and Thompstone was judged to have been offside by the TMO. At this point you would have been forgiven for believing this could be Gloucester’s day.

Leicester responded brilliantly to disappointment, and began pressuring the Gloucester line with a stunning touch finder from Freddie Burns – whose territorial kicking was outstanding all evening. Three line-outs later and Gloucester’s Matt Kvesic had been sent to the sin-bin following a 3^rd straight offence at the maul just on their try line. The Leicester pressure and paid off and scrum-half Sam Harrison was chalked up on the board as the 3^rd Leicester try scorer when he crossed following yet another forceful Leicester maul. Burns converted and suddenly Leicester were one man up and only 10 points down.

Freddie Burns was keeping the scoreboard ticking over for Leicester – landing a scrum penalty from halfway to put them within 7 points of the home side. Gloucester soon found themselves with a kickable penalty – which they sent to the corner and immediately lost, allowing for Leicester to go on the offensive once more – a massive mistake considering they could have given themselves a 10 point lead and closed the game down somewhat.

Despite their comeback, the Leicester backs looked rusty in attack, and making ground was becoming increasingly difficult with only substitute prop Ellis Genge offering any kind of meaningful ball carrying. Tuilagi had left the field with cramp and Freddie Burns had made way for last years captain Ben Youngs, and Leicester were becoming increasingly dependent on their forwards. Following another Genge truck-up, Ben Youngs neatly kicked over and the unpredictable bounce eluded the Gloucester defence and allowed for Pietersen to poach the ball and provide Brendan O’Connor with a clear run for the line and level the scores at 31-31.

With momentum firmly on their side, Leicester pushed for the win. With only 2 minutes to go, Gloucester gave away a penalty on half-way, and with no Freddie Burns on the field Leicester were forced to kick for touch – with scrum-half turned fly-half Sam Harrison finding the 5-metre line. Upon winning the line-out Leicester players piled in to the maul under the instruction of Ben Youngs, and as the clock turned red Harrison crossed the line to provide the inevitable final blow – a converted try that left the scores at 38-31.

Agonising for Gloucester as they let a 24-point lead slip in less than 40 minutes of rugby, but some encouraging attacking rugby and 2 bonus points will soften an almighty blow - a thrilling opener to the new Aviva Premiership season. Leicester will be less than pleased with their overall performance, although they will be encouraged by five points gained away from home in the first game of the season.

Man-of-the-match went to the two-try Leicester scrum-half Sam Harrison, who made little mistake at half-back and held his nerve superbly when moved to fly-half.

Written by Ollie Shires for www.TheRugbyPod.com

Gloucester: 15 Marshall, 14 Sharples, 13 Scott, 12 Twelvetrees, 11 Purdy, 10 Burns, 9 Laidlaw ©; 1 Thomas, 2 Hibbard, 3 Afoa, 4 Savage, 5 Galarza, 6 Moriarty, 7 Kvesic, 8 Morgan

Replacements: Dawidiuk, McAllister, Doran-Jones, Latta, Rowan, Heinz, Hook, Evans.

Tries: Scott 2, Sharples, Purdy Cons: Laidlaw 4 Pen: Laidlaw

Leicester: 15 Tait, 14 Veainu, 13 Betham, 12 Tuilagi, 11 Pietersen, 10 Burns, 9 Harrison; 1 Ayerza, 2 T Youngs ©, 3 Bateman, 4 Slater, 5 Barrow, 6 Hamilton, 7 O'Connor, 8 McCaffrey.

Replacements: McGuigan, Genge, Cole, Kitchener, Evans, B Youngs, Smith, Thompstone.

Tries: Tuilagi, Pietersen, Harrison 2, O'Connor Cons: Burns 3, Harrison 2 Pen: Burns