Sometimes it helps having a double World Cup winner in your side. There are numerous reasons why Leicester Tigers overturned an 11-point deficit to win a thrilling contest against Gloucester under blue skies and swirling winds. Their experienced bench played a role, as did greater accuracy in the backline after a disjointed opening. They rode their luck on occasion and it did not hurt playing against the most porous defence in the league. But a key factor was the presence of Handré Pollard at fly-half who scored a crucial try at the start of the second half while kicking nine points in a three-point win.
The Springbok pivot missed for the first time this season on 23 minutes when he failed to convert Ollie Hassell-Collins’ wonder finish. But that miss felt costly at the time as a little while later Max Llewellyn bagged his second and Gloucester’s third to take a healthy 19-8 lead into the break. This was not what an expectant home crowd had anticipated.
Shortly after the restart Leicester opted to tap and go from a penalty within touching distance of their try line. Neat interplay and quick hands from Julián Montoya found Pollard on a blind run and, after taking an initial hit, he powered over under the posts.
Rugby games so often have turning points; moments when momentum shifts and everything that had come before feels immaterial. This was it. And as soon as Pollard added the extras the result seemed inevitable.
Now Leicester started bossing the point of contact. Their faultless lineout acted as a springboard for meaty carries. Six minutes after Pollard’s score, Freddie Steward ran a scything line from midfield and played a simple pass for the supporting Josh Bassett to score in the corner.
Gloucester simply could not handle the greater impetus from their hosts despite bossing the first half. Tomos Williams, who came into the game with the most passes in the Premiership and the second most line breaks, ran the show at scrum-half, providing zipping balls off his shoulder and down the line, as well as cute dinks off the toe over a narrow defence. His fellow Welshman Llewellyn punched holes in midfield. Arthur Clark set up a try for his fellow lock Freddie Thomas when the pair combined across 50 metres of running. When Santiago Carreras hammered Olly Cracknell into touch a stunned silence rippled throughout the stands. Despite Hassell-Collins’ five-pointer, procured from 20 metres out and despite two covering defenders to deal with, Leicester’s faithful had little to cheer.
Then Pollard scored. So too did Bassett. And when Dan Kelly charged over from close range following sustained pressure on 65 minutes, it seemed as if all of Gloucester’s fight had left them. There would be another twist but not another turning point. With the game slipping from their grasp, and after Pollard had left the field, Llewellyn registered his hat-trick when he straightened off his right foot from close range with Gloucester hammering at Leicester’s defence. That made it a three-point game with eight minutes to play.
after newsletter promotion
Leicester held on, though. Maybe it was their stout defence, their sense of belief out a late knock-on from Josh Hathaway played their part. So too did a winning belief provided by some serial winners.
