Pollard gives Leicester Tigers the edge over Gloucester

MATCH REPORT: Handre Pollard scored 14 points as Leicester overturned an 8-19 half-time deficit to claim a 29-26 victory against Gloucester in a thrilling game.

The Ed Slater Cup, inaugurated to mark the sad diagnosis of MND for the former Leicester and Gloucester lock, was paraded by his two young children before kick-off and in the first half the visitors looked well-set to triumph at Welford Road for the second year in succession.

Max Llewellyn, likely to be included in the Wales squad for the November internationals, scored a hat-trick of tries for Gloucester and Freddie Thomas the other, with Santi Carreras adding three conversions as their attacking flair rattled Tigers.

It was a totally different story after the interval as the home pack took control to end up with four tries scored by Josh Bassett, Dan Kelly, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Pollard, who also kicked a penalty and three conversions.

Leicester were quickly out of the blocks to take a fifth-minute lead when Pollard knocked over a straightforward penalty.

However, Gloucester’s response was swift as they scored an excellent try. From a 50:22 Zach Mercer crossed the gain line and when the ball was recycled, a sweetly-timed pass from Charlie Atkinson sent Llewellyn over.

Two minutes later, Gloucester scored a second when Arthur Clark burst through a tackle to create a try for fellow lock Thomas, who galloped 20 metres to the line.

The home side were temporarily stunned but they kept in touch when Hassell-Collins was presented with an opportunity and the wing took his chance in style, brushing aside a weak tackle from Josh Hathaway to crash over.

After a stagnant period of play, Gloucester reignited proceedings with a superb score.

On halfway, a chip over the top from an alert Tomos Williams was collected by Carreras, who took his side deep into the opposition 22. The move looked to have lost its impetus but Llewellyn saw a gap and raced through it for his second.

The conversion attempt from Carreras went badly astray but Gloucester still held a 19-8 interval lead. Two careless mistakes early in the second half gifted their opponents their second try.

A fumble from Carreras and a high tackle from Clark gave Tigers an attacking platform and from a pre-planned move, Pollard darted over to keep his side in contention.

In the 48th minute, Leicester regained the lead when an impressive burst from Freddie Steward provided Bassett with an easy run-in.

The third quarter was all one-way traffic in Tigers’ favour and the only surprise was that it took them so long to pick up their bonus-point try. It eventually came when Kelly finished off a succession of forward tries.

Gloucester looked a spent force but they conjured up a late rally for Llewellyn to complete his hat-trick but Tigers just held on for a valuable five points.

The scorers:

For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Hassell-Collins, Pollard, Bassett, Kelly
Cons: Pollard 3
Pen: Pollard

For Gloucester:
Tries: Llewellyn 3, Thomas
Cons: Carreras 3

Teams:

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Izaia Perese, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Tom Manz, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Dan Kelly.

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Josh Hathaway, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ioan Jones, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Jack Clement, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ciaran Knight.
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Val Rapava-Ruskin, 18 Afo Fasogbon, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Albert Tuisue, 21 Harry Taylor, 22 Caolan Englefield, 23 Louis Hillman-Cooper.

Referee: Hamish Smales
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson, Wayne Falla
TMO: Andrew Jackson