The Shed faithful were finally able to start singing in the rain as Gloucester
moved into the semi-finals of the Parker Pen Shield at soggy Kingsholm.
Victory came at a cost, however, as the home side lost their England A squad
second row Adam Eustace with a suspected broken ankle after only nine minutes.
With a whole front row currently missing through injury and suspension,
Eustace's misfortune couldn't have come at a worse time.
Ebbw Vale had first use of the driving wind and rain, but took a long time to
come to terms with both the conditions and their English opponents.
Ludovic Mercier turned the home side's early pressure into points with three
penalties before Gareth Cull replied with a goal of his own to cut the deficit.
Those points gave the Welshmen new heart and they began to win possession and
get their forwards rolling.
After one charge to the edge of the Gloucester 22, Ebbw scrum half Kevin Ellis
chipped to the left corner. His rolling chip kick caused panic in the home
defence and both James Simpson-Daniel and Daren O'Leary missed the ball to allow
the advancing Andrew Wagstaff to pounce for a try.
As the conditions worsened, so Ebbw rode their luck and on the stroke of
half-time Cull kicked a second penalty to give the visitors a two-point
advantage at the break.
Philippe Saint-Andre read the riot act in the dressing room at half-time and
his players obviously took his words to heart.
With the elements at their backs Gloucester completely dominated the second
half as they notched 37 unanswered points to power their way through to the last
four of a competition that provides the winners with a Heineken Cup ticket next
season.
As Ebbw fell foul of the Italian referee, and had three players, Paul
Matthews, Gareth Cull and Kevin Ellis, sent to the sin-bin, so Gloucester
grabbed tries through O'Leary, Simpson-Daniel, captain Jake Boer and James
Forrester.
Teams
Gloucester: O'Leary, Simpson-Daniel, Fanolua, Todd,
Albanese,
Mercier, Gomarsall, Collazo, Fortey, Pucciarello, Cornwell,
Eustace, Boer, Hazell, Paramore.
Replacements: Garvey for O'Leary (70), Paul for Albanese (71),
Yachvili for Gomarsall (73), Irish for Collazo (79),
Deacon for Pucciarello (23), Fidler for Eustace (9),
Forrester for Hazell (70).
Tries: O'Leary, Simpson-Daniel, Boer, Forrester.
Cons: Mercier 4.
Pens: Mercier 6.
Ebbw Vale: James, Takarangi, Shorney, Matthews,
Wagstaff, Cull,
Ellis, I. Thomas, L. Phillips, Jones, Billen, Edwards,
Tuipulotu, P. Williams, W. Thomas.
Replacements: Weatherley for Takarangi (72),
Penisini for Jones (77), Booyse for Billen (58),
R. Williams for Tuipulotu (74).
Not Used: J. Evans, A. Bevan, Watts.
Sin Bin: Matthews (48), Cull (53), Ellis (68).
Tries: Wagstaff.
Pens: Cull 2.
Att: 6,816
Ref: De Santes (France).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook