Gloucester v Leicester: Five takeaways as Warren Gatland’s ‘ridiculous’ call comes under the spotlight after Tigers’ ‘old stagers’ gave visitors hope

Colin Newboult
Max Llewellyn and Mike Brown (inset) in action during the Gloucester v Leicester Tigers Premiership clash.

Max Llewellyn and Mike Brown in action during the Gloucester v Leicester Tigers Premiership clash.

Following a 38-31 victory for Gloucester over Leicester Tigers, here are our five takeaways from the Premiership encounter at Kingsholm on Saturday.

The top line

Gloucester made it successive victories in the Premiership as they came from 11 points behind to stun fellow play-off contenders Leicester.

The Tigers were the better side for the opening 50 minutes, deservedly touching down four times through Izaia Perese, Mike Brown, Adam Radwan and Harry Wells, but three quick-fire tries shocked the visitors.

The Cherry and Whites remained in the game through Tomos Williams and Santiago Carreras, but they hit the turbo button for 10 thrilling second-half minutes. Jack Clement went over to reduce the arrears before Chris Harris crossed the whitewash soon after to take the hosts into the lead.

When Seb Blake followed for another try, all of sudden Gloucester were well in control. Although a Handre Pollard penalty set up a fascinating finish, Leicester had to be content with a losing bonus-point.

Warren Gatland regret?

The Wales head coach was no doubt taking a keen interest in proceedings at Kingsholm with a number of his charges in action ahead of the Six Nations, but in many ways the story was about who wasn’t selected.

Gatland would have been pleased to have seen Gloucester’s Williams continue his fine form, with the livewire scrum-half once again outstanding in all facets, while Freddie Thomas (Gloucester) and Nicky Smith (Leicester) also put in big shifts, but it is Max Llewellyn who has had all the attention since his shock omission.

The decision to leave him out of the Wales squad for the Six Nations was the big surprise and he was looking to make a mockery of Gatland’s call and, at times, he very much did. It started well enough for Llewellyn, whose brilliant line off the shoulder of Seb Atkinson set up Williams’ score. Although a mistake from the wing led to Brown crossing the whitewash, he would make up for that error by providing a second assist of the afternoon, this time for Carreras.

In the second period, Llewellyn would continue to run hard and get over the gain line, displaying the type of qualities which continues to make Gatland’s decision look ridiculous. It may not have been the stellar performance to send the head coach a real message, but we find it bemusing that he can’t find a place for the in-form 26-year-old.

Old stagers

It may have eventually gone wrong for the Tigers but Dan Cole and Brown certainly rolled back the years, particularly in the first 50 minutes, to put their side in an excellent position going into them final half-hour.

Cole was absolutely superb in the scrum to get Leicester enough front foot ball to allow their backline to create opportunities. The tighthead may not have been in the best form this season, leading to him losing his England place for the Six Nations, but this showed that he is still a very fine prop.

The experienced front-rower has struggled for the type of dominance he has been used to in the set-piece, but on Saturday he marched back Argentinian international Mayco Vivas with regularity.

He is not done just yet at this level and neither is Brown, who was similarly impressive. The full-back may have lost a yard of pace, but he is not slow by any means as he showed in Radwan’s try. The 39-year-old intercepted the ball, stayed away from the retreating Christian Wade and off-loaded at just the right time for the debutant wing to finish.

Brown was also rewarded for his efforts with a try as he displayed his rugby intellect to take a superb line to cross the whitewash unopposed. The Tigers may have lost but it was not due to their old stagers, who were excellent.

Harlequins v Northampton: Five takeaways as Steve Borthwick left ‘Green with envy’ as Quins clinch crucial try-bonus in Premiership race

New school and old school

With Leicester leading 28-17 with half-an-hour remaining, the visitors were very much in control, but Gloucester are a very different side this season. While they still have their lapses – the defeat to Exeter Chiefs was a significant blot in their copybook – the Cherry and Whites are a team that can now score points quickly.

George Skivington has let his side off the leash this season and it has allowed the likes of Williams, Llewellyn, Atkinson, Wade and Carreras to show their remarkable ability with ball in hand. The confidence they have in possession means that no opponent can relax and they manufactured a couple of superb tries for Clement and Harris to turn the game on its head.

However, that does not mean they have moved away from their traditional strengths. A few years ago, the Cherry and Whites were the best mauling team in the Premiership and on the hour mark they marched towards the line, allowing Blake to fall over the line. It was a 10-minute display of the old and new of Gloucester, which could provide the perfect combination as the league gets towards its latter stages.

Play-off race

In 2023/24, Gloucester finished the campaign second bottom of the table with only winless Newcastle Falcons below them. They claimed just five victories in total and were 13 points behind eighth place Leicester.

Fast forward a few months and the Cherry and Whites have already eclipsed that points tally and are very much in the play-off race. Skivington’s men go into the Six Nations break in the top-four and will remain there until March 23 at the very least when the league season resumes.

As for the Tigers, they also struggled during the previous campaign and, like Gloucester, are now in contention for the title in 2024/25, but frustration will still linger for head coach Michael Cheika. After a promising start, there have been a few too many subpar displays over recent months. It was at least a decent response to their Toulouse embarrassment but that will hardly console their feisty Australian boss.

READ MORE: Scarlets v Edinburgh: Five takeaways as snubbed Wales duo ‘send message’ to Warren Gatland while South African stars with ‘determined showing’

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