Aviva Premiership: Toby Flood kicks Leicester to win at Gloucester
Gloucester's poor start to the Aviva Premiership season continued as they were beaten 22-17 by Leicester at Kingsholm.
Last Updated: 29/11/13 10:21pm
Toby Flood kicked five penalties and a conversion to make up for throwing an interception try into the hands of Freddie Burns in the first half.
Jonny May also scored a breakaway try for the hosts, while Dan Bowden was the only Leicester player to cross the try-line.
Poor kicking proved Gloucester's downfall, with Rob Cook and Burns missing two penalties each in another morale-sapping defeat.
The result means Gloucester have won only two of their first nine league games, while the Tigers have at least temporarily climbed into the top four.
Gloucester had all the early momentum and scored when Burns intercepted Flood's pass to race unopposed for 50 metres and touch down under the posts.
Leicester eventually got a foothold and responded with their first points when Flood kicked a penalty after the home side were penalised for a scrummage offence.
Crucial errors
Gloucester were still in control but Burns made some crucial errors, fluffing a drop goal badly, being astray with a penalty attempt and kicking the ball straight into touch when under no pressure.
At the ensuing line-out following the latter mistake, Gloucester were penalised allowing Flood to kick his second penalty and reduce the arrears to only point.
Leicester went ahead when, following a set-scrum, Ben Youngs robbed Dan Robson of the ball, allowing Flood to send Dan Bowden in for a converted try.
With the last play of the half, Leicester looked set to extend their lead by producing a magnificent 60-metre movement, but Miles Benjamin's pass was intercepted for Gloucester to break and May collected a long kick from Henry Trinder for the hosts' second try.
Cook converted to give Gloucester a 14-13 half-time lead, but the Cherry and Whites suffered a blow after the restart when captain Tom Savage was forced to leave the field with a shoulder injury.
Cook failed again as Gloucester continued to squander points, which resulted in Billy Twelvetrees becoming his side's third goal kicker - and he made no mistake with his first opportunity.
Gloucester were well on top but could not add any more points to their tally and Flood kicked three more penalties in the closing stages to complete a gritty fightback from the defending champions.