English Premiership: Leicester's gain in Gloucester last night looks likely to prove costly for England after number eight Martin Corry suffered a dislocated right elbow which threatens his availability for the opening two weekends of the Six Nations Championship which starts next month.
Early estimates suggest Corry could be out for at least six weeks, which would rule the 31-year-old out of the potentially awkward trip to Wales on February 5th and the home game against France the following weekend.
There was consolation for the England coach Andy Robinson in Phil Vickery's return after a six-week injury lay-off and the form of the young Leicester back Ollie Smith, who scored one try yesterday and created another for Leon Lloyd.
The Tigers had to cope with some intense early pressure which saw Gloucester open up a 10-0 lead but, having emerged to score three sharp tries of their own, they will take some stopping having established an eight-point lead over Wasps, their nearest rivals, with only nine games remaining.
Leicester have now scored 46 tries in their 13 Premiership games to date and conceded fewer than anyone, which made two Gloucester touchdowns inside the first 13 minutes a real eye-opener. Barely four minutes had elapsed when an innovative lineout option found a lurking Andy Gomarsall at the tail. Adam Balding and Terry Fanolua blasted up the middle and Henry Paul's chip sat up for Nathan Mauger to collect, twist and score.
The second home try was equally well crafted, Jon Goodridge's pace and ingenuity setting up Adam Eustace for an unstoppable surge to the line. Paul's conversion attempt bounced off the post but there seemed no need to panic, with Paul, the Kiwi-born outhalf, looking keen to impress at number 10 in the absence of the injured Simon Amor.
Instead it all unravelled. The Tigers are past masters at snaffling chances where few apparently exist and, within three minutes, they had bounced right back. Goodridge must have thought he had done the hard work when he plucked a high ball out of the night sky, only for the visitors to steal it back and launch a swift counter-attack.
Still, there appeared little danger as Smith was ushered towards the touchline, only for the young wing to throw a cheeky pass behind his back to Geordan Murphy who duly sent Lloyd strolling over. It would prove to be the first of 21 unanswered Leicester points.
Two Andy Goode penalties gave them the lead either side of Corry's exit and Gloucester's luck also departed. Another harsh penalty against Balding gave Leicester the chance to drive a lineout and Lloyd to slip another pass over the top for the speedy Smith to scoot outside Goodridge and stretch the lead.
Any chance of Gloucester's 100th win over their opponents was extinguished when Daryl Gibson touched down at the foot of the home posts, leaving the Cherry and Whites to survey this morning's league table with some unease.
London Irish and Saracens are both considered to have endured disappointing seasons to date but now sit only four points behind Gloucester, who are in sixth place on the outer fringes of European qualification for next season.
GLOUCESTER: Goodridge; Garvey (Bailey, 69), Mauger, Fanolua, Kiole; Paul, Gomarsall; Bezuidenhout (Sigley, 52), Davies, Vickery, Eustace (Buxton, 67), Brown, Boer (capt), Hazell, Balding (Forrester, 52). Tries: Mauger, Eustace. Pen: Paul.
LEICESTER: Murphy (Vesty, 57); Smith, Lloyd, Gibson, Varndell; Goode (Cornwell, 80), Ellis; Morris, Chuter (Buckland, 28), White, M Johnson (capt), Kay, Moody, Back, Corry (W Johnson, 23). Tries: Lloyd, Smith, Gibson. Cons: Goode 2. Pens: Goode 2. Drop-goal: Goode. Sin-bin: Lloyd, 56.
Referee: D Pearson (Northumberland).
