Gloucester battle back for a share

Gloucester battled back to earn a share of the spoils 27-27 against Leicester at Welford Road and extend their unbeaten start to the Guinness Premiership season on Saturday.

Dan Hipkiss: Scorer of the first Leicester try

The Cherry and Whites went into the game as the last team to beat Leicester in front of their own supporters in the Premiership back in January 2004.

The Tigers had strung together a 27-game unbeaten home run since then but could not shake off a spirited challenge from the visitors this time.

Leicester opened up a 16-9 lead at the break and went further clear two minutes into the second half with Andy Goode's penalty.

That set up a spell of 20 points in nine minutes that left Leicester 27-21 ahead going into the final quarter.

Gloucester's first try came through James Forrester after 50 minutes but Seru Rabeni replied four minutes later.

The visitors responded with Anthony Allen finding a way over between the posts for a try that Willie Walker converted to trim the deficit to 24-21 after 75 minutes.

Goode gave Leicester some breathing space with another penalty after 59 minutes but Walker replied two minutes later to set up a tight final quarter.

Gloucester piled on the pressure and were awarded a five-metre scrum four minutes from the end.

Leicester breathed a sigh of relief when Brad Davies spilled the ball a couple of metres short of the line, but he made amends with a 79th-minute penalty that earned his side a draw.

The first half was disjointed and littered with unforced errors.

The tone was set in the opening exchanges with Leicester knocking on at a line-out five metres from their own line in the second minute and that gifted Walker the opportunity to put the visitors ahead with a drop goal.

Goode replied with a 40-metre penalty two minutes later but Walker responded from just inside Leicester's half in the ninth minute to put the Cherry and Whites back in front at 6-3.

The lead did not last a minute, however, as Gloucester fumbled the restart and Goode kicked the penalty.

He added another after 15 minutes and then Leicester produced the best move of the half to grab the opening try.

They finally strung several phases together with George Chuter making his way into the 22 and then sending the ball out to the right.

Dan Hipkiss gathered Sam Vesty's pass and burst through a gap to touch down between the posts after 19 minutes.

Goode's conversion made it 16-9 and Gloucester were denied their first try 10 minutes later when the officials spotted a knock-on before Forrester powered over in the right-hand corner.

Walker's drop goal in the 32nd minute kept Gloucester in touch and Goode wasted a chance to put Leicester 10 points clear when he was off target with a 38th-minute penalty.

The scorers:

For Leicester:
Tries: Hipkiss, Rabeni
Con: Goode
Pens: Goode 5

For Gloucester:
Tries: Forrester, Allen
Con: Walker
Pens: Walker 2, Davies
Drop goals: Walker 2

Leicester Tigers: 15 Sam Vesty, 14 Geordan Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Matt Cornwell, 11 Seru Rabeni, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Scott Bemand, 8 Martin Corry (c), 7 Luke Abraham, 6 Jordan Crane, 5 James Hamilton, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza,
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Lewis Moody, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Frank Murphy, 21 Paul Burke, 22 Tom Varndell.

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Bailey, 13 Rudi Keil, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Mark Foster, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Peter Richards, 8 James Forrester, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Marco Bortolami (capt), 4 Will James, 3 Christian Califano, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Patrice Collazo.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Jack Forster, 18 Nick Wood, 19 Adam Eustace, 20 Jake Boer, 21 Brad Davies, 22 Rory Lawson.

Referee: Tony Spreadbury
Touch judges: Peter Emerson, David Kurk
Television match official/Timekeeper: Andrew Turner