Gloucester dismantle Exiles

Gloucester booked their place in the LV= Cup semi-finals in fine style with a 41-8 thrashing of London Irish at Kingsholm.

The Cherry and Whites scored five of their seven tries in the opening half as the all-Aviva Premiership clash turned into a one-sided rout.

Winger Charlie Sharples touched down twice for the hosts as they picked up a bonus point on their way to sealing top spot in their pool ahead of Sale and Scarlets.

As for the struggling Exiles, they simply never recovered from conceding 12 points in the opening 15 minutes.

Home dominance

Centre Tim Molenaar set the tone for an afternoon of Gloucester dominance when he sliced through the visiting midfield to go over on 13 minutes.

Almost straight away, Sharples got the ball in the 22 and weaved right to touch down in the corner, though Nicky Robinson was unable to add the extras.

Sharples looked set to score another try on 22 minutes, but his progress to get on the end of scrum-half Dave Lewis' dangerous grubber kick was abruptly halted by Exiles' wing Sailosi Tagicakibau.

The Samoan was given 10 minutes in the sin-bin and his misery was compounded even further when Gloucester were awarded a penalty try.

Former Gloucester fly-half Ryan Lamb landed a long-range penalty to get the visitors on the scoreboard after 25 minutes, despite being down to 14 men.

They soon found themselves falling even further behind, though, as lock Jim Hamilton grabbed the bonus-point try. A fifth followed when turnover ball from an Irish lineout was spun wide by Fuimaono-Sapolu to send full-back Olly Morgan scampering over.

Sterner resistance

The Exiles did manage to put up sterner resistance after the interval and their defiance brought rewards as, despite a creaking scrummage throughout the match, they managed to score a try of their own.

Tongan Chris Hala'ufia, on for number eight George Stowers, charged through a gap on the Gloucester 22 for a score that went unconverted.

However, the hosts responded to conceding by going back on the attack, adding two further tries in the final nine minutes.

Replacement Akapusi Qera burst over from 20 metres out and Sharples sealed a fine afternoon for both himself and his team with a 40-metre sprint down the right wing for the final try of the match.

Freddie Burns added the conversion to round out the scoring having taken over at fly-half from Robinson, who had kicked only two of his attempts.