Gloucester wins battle of the SA coaches
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Louis Rees-Zammit scored a stunning second-half brace as Gloucester ran in five tries in 20 minutes to claim a bonus-point 36-3 victory against Worcester Warriors at Kingsholm.
The Cherry & Whites were left frustrated at the half-time interval as the visitors restricted them to just a Danny Cipriani penalty after Duncan Weir had kicked Worcester in front.
But the hosts turned on the style after the interval, making the most of a yellow card for Ryan Mills as they piled on 19 points in 10 minutes to take control of the game.
Three quickfire tries from Ruan Ackermann, Chris Harris and Rees-Zammit put Gloucester on top before Ben Morgan grabbed the bonus-point score on 73 minutes.
Rees-Zammit then capped off a man-of-the-match display by crossing the whitewash at the death for his second try to put the cherry on the cake for Johan Ackermann’s men.
Cipriani also added 11 points with his boot to give Gloucester their first Gallagher Premiership win since October as they leapfrogged Warriors in the table.
📹 Willi Heinz reflects on his return to Cherry & White….#GLOvWOR pic.twitter.com/KHhab0Ue7I
— Gloucester Rugby (@gloucesterrugby) December 20, 2019
Gloucester’s South African coach Johan Ackermann said: “There was a lot of things that we didn’t do as accurate for the 80 minutes but the guys showed that if we persist and play to the end we can get the result.
“[At half-time] we said we were doing the right things, we are playing in the right area but there was still that odd mistake that crept in.
“We had a lot of opportunities where we went over the line and didn’t score so we just had to keep playing good territory and playing to our strengths.”
Worcester Warriors’ South African coach Alan Solomons said: “It is frustrating but I think what happened in that first half was that we didn’t have field position, we didn’t have possession.
“Unless we turned that around, eventually it was going to count and in about 20 minutes they scored all of their points, they got five tries in 20 minutes.
“That’s because of the pressure they were able to build through having the ball in our half right throughout that game apart from the opening 10-15 minutes.
“Gloucester is a good side and at Kingsholm they would want to set things right. For us the biggest problem is not having the ball and not having field position.
“I think that absolutely killed us and in the last 20 minutes we paid the price.”
The scorers
For Gloucester:
Tries: Ackermann, Harris, Rees-Zammit 2, Morgan
Cons: Cipriani 4
Pen: Cipriani
For Worcester Warriors:
Pen: Weir
Yellow card: Ryan Mills (Worcester Warriors, 55)
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Willi Heinz (captain), 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Lewis Ludlow 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin.
Replacements: 16 Todd Gleave, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Freddie Clarke, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Charlie Sharples.
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Ashley Beck, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Melani Nanai, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Cornell du Preez, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Matt Moulds (captain), 1 Callum Black.
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Michael Fatialofa, 20 GJ van Velze, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jono Lance, 23 Jamie Shillcock.
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson & Greg Macdonald
TMO: Stuart Terheege
Report by @premrugby
Half an hour in and only a @duncan_weir penalty separates the two 😬#GallagherPrem live blog 👉 https://t.co/6MkW2nIToQ pic.twitter.com/OxR8lpCCIM
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) December 20, 2019
