England reject Henry Paul led the way as Gloucester made history by beating Leicester 28-18 to secure their first Zurich Premiership win at Welford Road.

The former rugby league star created tries for Alex Brown and Junior Paramore as well as kicking a penalty and a conversion - with fly-half Duncan McRae adding two drop-goals and scoring a try of his own at the death.

Ollie Smith and Neil Baxter replied with tries for the Tigers, and Andy Goode landed a conversion and two penalties.

Any closer than that would have been tough on Paul, in a rich vein of form for his club despite being overlooked by England.

He is not included in Sir Clive Woodward's 50-strong Six Nations squad but helped bury Leicester's chances of reaching the play-offs with his intelligent prompting in midfield.

Leicester restored England captain Martin Johnson to the starting line-up but were still without a sizeable contingent of World Cup players - with Lewis Moody (foot), Julian White (knee) and Dorian West (knee) all out of action.

Gloucester had injury problems of their own - no Phil Vickery or Jamie Forrester - magnified by the loss of Thinus Delport for the rest of the season.

Rookie Jon Goodridge took over from the South African at full-back and faced a stiff examination of his ability as the snow showers abated on a gloomy day in the east midlands.

Leicester's pack dominated the opening half-hour, with Johnson and Ben Kay in control at the line-out and Henry Tuilagi explosive from the base of the scrum.

But all they had to show for their efforts - after McRae's opening drop-goal for the visitors - was a soft score from Smith on 21 minutes.

Smith - one of Paul's rivals for an England shirt - appeared to have nowhere to go in midfield but then stepped past McRae into the wide open spaces and accelerated 40 metres under the posts to make Andy Goode's conversion a formality.

A Paul penalty and a second McRae drop-goal edged Gloucester in front, and they withstood some furious Leicester pressure on their own line before Paul carved out a fabulous try for Brown after the Tigers spilled the ball in midfield.

Paul surged down the right with Marcel Garvey, and Goodridge stopped short before the ball was moved left again. James Simpson-Daniel looked hemmed in by defenders, but his looping pass found Mark Cornwell who ushered Brown over.

Leicester started the second half strongly, with their first concerted attack into opposition territory giving Goode the position to pull back three points.

But they were stung by a second try, Paul creating mayhem almost every time he received the ball, and another half-break from the centre saw Jake Boer put Paramore over in the corner. Paul added the extra points.

Finally, some luck went Leicester's way - with Neil Baxter juggling Goode's pass before shaking off a tackle and touching down in the corner on 52 minutes.

Although Goode could not convert, he made no mistake with a 58th-minute penalty to pull his side back to only 21-18 down going into the final quarter.

Goodridge blew one big chance when he could not get the ball away after breaking to within 10 metres of the Leicester line - and 10 minutes from time Paul scuffed a long-range penalty effort wide of the posts.

It did not matter, though.

Goode missed with a 45metre effort which could have tied the game, and the visitors went straight down the other end for McRae to stroll through an overloaded defence. Paul then converted via the inside of the left-hand post.

Teams:

Leicester: van der Westhuyzen, Baxter, Lloyd, Smith, F. Tuilagi, Goode, Healey, Rowntree, Richards, Morris, M. Johnson, Kay, W. Johnson, Back, H. Tuilagi.

Replacements: Chuter for Richards (74), L. Deacon for M. Johnson (41), W. Skinner for W. Johnson (74).

Not Used: Nebbett, Vesty, Myring, Gelderbloom.

Tries: Smith, Baxter.

Cons: Goode.

Pens: Goode 2.

Gloucester: Goodridge, Garvey, Todd, Paul, Simpson-Daniel, McRae, Gomarsall, Woodman, Fortey, Deacon, Brown, Cornwell, Boer, Buxton, Paramore. Replacements: Fanolua for Todd (60), Eustace for Cornwell (60).

Not Used: Collins, Roncero, Wood, Merryman, Page.

Tries: Brown, Paramore, McRae.

Cons: Paul 2.

Pens: Paul.

Drop Goals: McRae 2.

Att: 16,815

Ref: Roy Maybank (RFU).