Tigers tamed by Burns' boot
Fly-half Freddie Burns kicked two penalties and two drop-goals to earn Gloucester a hard-fought 12-9 victory over Leicester.
Last Updated: 20/11/09 11:00pm
Fly-half Freddie Burns kicked two penalties and two drop-goals to earn Gloucester a hard-fought 12-9 victory over Leicester - their first Guinness Premiership home win since beating Bath on the opening day of the season.
However, Leicester new-boy Lote Tuqiri passed up a golden opportunity to ensure he enjoyed a winning Guinness Premiership debut, but knocked on with the try-line at his mercy late on.
In a frantic finale, Tuqiri would surely have won the match for Leicester had he caught a pass from centre Anthony Allen, but he spilled the ball and the hosts clung on.
The triumph was a timely boost for the Cherry and Whites who had managed just two wins from their previous seven league outings.
A tight opening to the match saw Gloucester carve out a three-point lead by the 20-minute mark, Burns landing two penalties to the one of Leicester counterpart Jeremy Staunton.
Burns extended the advantage to six points with the first of his drop-goals on the half-hour mark, but a Gloucester infringement allowed Staunton to respond with his second penalty almost instantly.
The scoreline remained 9-6 until the break as the game continued to be dominated by both packs with opportunities for the three-quarters limited.
Just as before the interval, Burns' second drop-goal was quickly answered by another Staunton penalty and Leicester did have a chance to break the try duck when a pass on the home try-line from scrum-half Ben Youngs at a ruck went flying just out of flanker Brett Deacon's grasp.
Spencer lift
The introduction of Carlos Spencer seemed to lift Gloucester and they subsequently enjoyed a period of prolonged pressure but failed to capitalise as scrum-half Dave Lewis made two blistering runs but without finding any support.
The Tigers did not make it any easier on themselves when, still three points behind, they lost full-back Scott Hamilton to the sin-bin for killing the ball at a ruck.
The visitors then roused themselves with five minutes to go, with scrum-half Ben Youngs missing a long-range penalty and home flanker Jake Boer preventing replacement Toby Flood from attempting a drop-goal to tie the scores.
Then came the final push and Tuqiri's ultimate mistake that ended the Tigers' winning run at Kingsholm.
