Gloucester, last season's Premiership table toppers, kicked off the new term
with victory over newcomers Rotherham - but it was far from convincing.
The Kingsholm outfit may have had five players absent through World Cup duties
but even so the likes of Henry Paul, Marcel Garvey and Jake Boer could not weave
enough magic to re-ignite last season's spark.
England international Paul got the Cherry and Whites off the mark after nine
minutes with two penalties but Gloucester were far from secure.
A wayward pass by England Sevens star Simon Amor after Gloucester had stolen
Rotherham's line-out proved costly when number eight Geraint Lewis pounced on
the ball and charged 20 metres up the field to score.
Rotherham's Jason Strange missed the conversion but with both teams booting a
penalty before the break only one point separated them.
England wing Garvey re-discovered some of his old magic after the restart,
setting up Gloucester debutant Rory Teague for a 48th minute try.
The quick-footed Garvey carved his way through the midfield, finally
offloading to Paul Johnstone in Rotherham's danger zone. He kept the ball alive,
feeding to Boer who popped the ball up to young full-back Teague who crashed
over the try-line.
Paul added the conversion before adding two further penalties to put the home
side 22-8 up and sealed Gloucester's first league win of the new season.
Teams:
Gloucester: Teague, Garvey, Fanolua, Paul, Goodridge, Davies,
Amor, Johnstone, Brotherstone, Deacon, Eustace, Brown, Boer,
Hazell, Paramore.
Not Used: Page, Thomas, Todd, Collins, Forrester, Wood,
Cornwell.
Tries: Teague.
Cons: Paul.
Pens: Paul 5.
Rotherham: Benson, Elliott, Pritchard, Jorgensen, Wood,
Strange, Raulini, Lloyd, Johnson, Loader, Cook, Gross, Greeff,
Spence, Lewis.
Not Used: Smyth, Bunting, Kenworthy, Cockle, Harrison, Jones,
Oliver.
Tries: Lewis.
Pens: Strange.
Att: 10,114
Ref: Roy Maybank (RFU).
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