Tigers in lucky escape
Niki Goneva dotted down twice in the first half as Premiership champions Leicester Tigers narrowly avoided defeat at winless Worcester Warriors.
Goneva's two scores were cancelled out in the first half by a string of Chris Pennell penalties, before Josh Drauniniu's second-half try offered the league's bottom club a sniff of victory.
However, Toby Flood's boot and some resilient defence ensured a determined Warriors side fell narrowly short of that elusive victory.
* In the other match on Friday Rob Miller and Dan Braid scored two tries each as Sale Sharks defeated Gloucester 24-19 to keep their pursuit of an Premiership play-off place firmly on course.
Gloucester scored two first-half tries through wingers Martyn Thomas and Charlie Sharples but were outscored by Miller's double and Braid's first as Sale held a 17-10 half-time advantage.
We look at Friday's matches!
Worcester Warriors 22-23 Leicester Tigers
Niki Goneva dotted down twice in the first half as Premiership champions Leicester Tigers narrowly avoided defeat at winless Worcester Warriors.
Goneva's two scores were cancelled out in the first half by a string of Chris Pennell penalties, before Josh Drauniniu's second-half try offered the league's bottom club a sniff of victory.
However, Toby Flood's boot and some resilient defence ensured a determined Warriors side fell narrowly short of that elusive victory.
Tigers were on top early and Goneva put them ahead after just four minutes with his sixth try of the season.
The Fijian spotted Paul Warwick's loose pass, grasped the interception with his fingertips and ran half the length of the pitch to dot down, with Flood adding the extras.
Leicester went after a second score and a flowing move, involving Flood and Goneva, was halted when Pennell hauled Thomas Waldrom to ground 10 metres short of the line.
Pennell put Worcester on the board as the clock struck a quarter of an hour, sending a 40-metre penalty between the posts, before nailing a halfway-line effort soon after.
And the Tigers' ill-discipline continued, this time faltering at the lineout, allowing Pennell to hit a third penalty in seven minutes to put Worcester ahead.
But that lineout that cost them was soon the foundation for Leicester to re-take the lead after 24 minutes, when they spread the ball wide to Blaine Scully.
The American ran an aggressive line near the left touchline before offloading to Goneva for his second try of the match, allowing Flood to once again convert.
The visitors were soon pinged again, this time for coming in at the side, and Pennell sent his fourth penalty through the posts.
Worcester didn't concede a kickable penalty until after half an hour but Flood kicked for the corner, only for the last line of defence to frustrate the ambitious Tigers, before the France-bound fly-half eventually accepted the three points.
Pennell was given a fifth bite of the cherry on the stroke of half time, after the Tigers pack failed to roll away, but he struck the post.
Flood sent an early second-half penalty narrowly wide of the post and the home side responded in the perfect fashion.
After 25 phases Worcester finally spread the ball wide and, once he had been fed by Pennell, Drauniniu ducked inside Goneva and slid into the corner to score.
Referee Andrew Small sent the decision up to the TMO, who confirmed the try, before Pennell drilled a trick conversion through the posts to hand his side the lead.
Flood gratefully accepted a penalty to restore Leicester's lead, before Pennell and then Flood again kicked tricky penalties as the lead continued to see-saw.
And it was Flood who had the final say, as Leicester closed out the clash to win by a single point and avoid the status of Worcester's first Premiership scalp of the season.
The scorers:
For Worcester Warriors:
Try: Drauniniu
Con: Pennell
Pens: Pennell 5
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Goneva 2
Cons: Flood 2
Pens: Flood 3
Teams:
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Ravai Fatiaki, 11 David Lemi, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Sam Betty, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 James Percival, 3 John Andress, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Ofa Fainga'anuku.
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 George Porter, 18 Rob O'Donnell, 19 Dean Schofield, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Ignacio Mieres, 23 Josh Matavesi.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood (captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Ed Slater, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 David Mélé, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Scott Hamilton.
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant referees: Roger Baileff, Gareth Copsey
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Sale Sharks 24-19 Gloucester
Rob Miller and Dan Braid scored two tries each as Sale Sharks defeated Gloucester Rugby 24-19 to keep their pursuit of an Premiership play-off place firmly on course.
Gloucester scored two first-half tries through wingers Martyn Thomas and Charlie Sharples but were outscored by Miller's double and Braid's first as Sale held a 17-10 half-time advantage.
The Cherry & Whites' hopes of re-taking the lead were not helped by yellow cards to James Hudson and Sila Puafisi either side of the break and Sale took full advantage.
Braid crossed for his second of the game soon after Gloucester were reduced to 13 men, though Freddie Burns showed great character to slot three penalties to earn the visitors a losing bonus point.
Gloucester flew out the traps from the kick-off and were rewarded inside two minutes when Jimmy Cowan's well placed grubber kick found winger Thomas who went over in the corner.
Sale responded quickly and they levelled the scores in the when Miller pounced after the home side had gone through the phases.
Miller struck again five minutes later when he burst through the Gloucester defence to score his second of the evening.
Danny Cipriani was unable to convert either conversion in a swirling wind and Miller then missed a penalty before Mark Cueto misjudged a bouncing ball after quick-thinking from Burns which allowed Sharples to go over and level the game up.
However, the game turned when Gloucester captain Hudson was yellow carded three minutes before the break and within a minute Braid emerged from a pile of bodies to claim Sale's third try.
The opening minutes of the second-half mirrored the end of the second with Puafisi the man to depart to the sin bin as Braid again snatched the initiative with his second try of the game once Sale had driven him over.
Cipriani converted both scores for his only points of the match after the Sharks had secured the bonus point that would ultimately take them up to fifth.
Burns slotted a penalty to reduce the deficit and with 15 men Gloucester threatened to score again but were forced to settle for two more penalties from their fly-half as their losing run in the north-west was extended to 12 years.
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Miller 2, Braid 2
Cons: Cipriani 2
For Gloucester:
Tries: Thomas, Sharples
Pens: Burns 3
Yellow cards: James Hudson (Gloucester, 37), Sila Puafisi (Gloucester, 42)
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Robert Miller, 14 Thomas Brady, 13 John Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 James Gaskell, 7 David Seymour, 6 Daniel Braid, 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Johnathan Mills, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Thomas Taylor, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Viliami Peauafi Fihaki, 20 Mark Easter, 21 William Cliff, 22 Nicholas Macleod, 23 Tom Arscott.
Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Martyn Thomas, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Matt Cox, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 James Hudson (captain), 4 Elliott Stooke, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Koree Britton, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Will James, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Shane Monahan.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Gordon Goodliffe, Ashley Rowden
TMO: Trevor Fisher
