It is hard to beat a beautiful crisp winter’s day at one of England’s most evocative rugby venues. Two proud old clubs, a crackle of genuine expectation in the Shed and heartfelt pre-match applause for the family of Ed Slater, who captained both these sides and continues to fight motor neurone disease. The only remaining question was whether the game could match the glorious setting.
For a long time the answer was a scrappy, frustrating ‘no’. When it mattered, though, it was Leicester who belatedly powered things up, with two tries either side of half-time from Ollie Hassell-Collins plus 18 points from the boot of Handré Pollard and a late bonus point score for Solomone Kata providing the impetus to see off a lacklustre Gloucester.
The Cherry & Whites have now lost their past five league games and are rooted in the bottom two. While it did not help that their young fly-half, George Barton, missed three first-half penalties, two of them rebounding off the uprights, they were increasingly worn down physically and were ultimately guilty of making too many errors with and without the ball.
“We’ve got to get ourselves out of this quickly,” said their director of rugby, George Skivington. “What they did was pretty simple but if you do it well it’s effective.”
The pivotal period of play for Leicester turned out to be the third quarter when, despite losing their England lock Ollie Chessum to the sin-bin for making contact with the face of the Gloucester forward Freddie Clarke in a maul, the home side’s numerical advantage swiftly disappeared when Barton was also sent to the bin for making head contact with Pollard and hooker Julián Montoya barged over to give the Tigers belated momentum.
With Jack Clement also seeing yellow, Leicester finally stretched their 13-man opponents down the left and the tall Hassell-Collins glided over for his second score. Despite a 66th-minute close-range consolation score from replacement prop Jamal Ford-Robinson, the hosts never looked like turning the tables.
It maintained Leicester’s clear edge in this fixture, the Tigers having now won the past seven league games between the clubs. Both sides, though, found consistent rhythm elusive in the opening 40 minutes. There were 15 penalties and free-kicks inside the first half hour, the scrums were a mess and only a vigorous breakdown battle initially elevated the contest above the mediocre.
The excellent Tommy Reffell continues to be a constant menace on the floor and with Pollard kicking his first three attempts the Tigers were already ahead before the only try of the first half a minute or so before the interval.
Even that was preceded by some confusion with the home full-back, Santiago Carreras, disagreeing with the officials’ decision that he had grounded the ball in goal after being hurled back over his own line. From the ensuing attacking Leicester scrum the ball ended up being spun wide left to Hassell-Collins who brushed past the challenge of a chastened Carreras to score.
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Gloucester, beaten in the last seconds at Exeter last Sunday, have had that sort of season. When the force is with them they can look as threatening as anyone. They have one of the most dangerous back threes in the league but struggle to work them into the game often enough.
Leicester’s kicking game was rather more effective and in Hanro Liebenberg and Cam Henderson they also had plenty of forwards determined to make a nuisance of themselves. Even after George McGuigan was driven over after 49 minutes to drag Gloucester back to within a point there was no disputing the more physical side.
With Pollard and, at the last, the strong Kata doing the rest, the steely Tigers of old are slowly re-emerging. They are outside the top six but the past two weekends have re-established some no-nonsense foundations upon which they can build.
As Skivington stressed, though, Slater’s resilience makes all else relative. “We’re all feeling sorry for ourselves but when you’re standing with Ed and his family at the end it definitely puts things into perspective. He’s just an inspiration to us all. We’re gutted about the rugby but in terms of life Ed gives us all something to think about.”
