Gloucester bounced back from successive defeats with a much-needed victory
over Saracens at Kingsholm.
Bolstered by the return of skipper Phil Vickery, back from England duty, the
Cherry and Whites secured themselves four vital Guinness Premiership points
through two tries, two penalties and a drop-goal.
Gloucester, clearly harbouring bruised egos after their defeats to Leicester
and London Irish this month, came out with renewed vigour and a blistering start
put the visitors immediately on the back foot and led to a drop-goal opportunity
for Frenchman Ludovic Mercier.
The Gloucester fly-half slotted home the three points after as many minutes.
Mercier's opposite number Glen Jackson drew Saracens level after 15 minutes
but a clever break by young Gloucester wing Mark Foster saw him carve his way
through Saracens' defence and score in the left corner.
Mercier missed the conversion but James Bailey soon added to Gloucester's 11-3
lead, mainly thanks to an impressive break from Mercier.
A wayward pass from Jackson saw the number 10 intercept and charge 50 metres
upfield, outpacing Saracens full-back Dan Scarbrough. Mercier offloaded to a
waiting Bailey, who stepped up a gear to charge over the line.
Mercier then added a second penalty after the restart but Saracens soon
managed to reduce Gloucester's lofty lead with a 57th-minute try.
Full-back Scarbrough was the orchestrator of Saracens' score, making a break
before offloading to Jackson. Jackson made the space upfield and it was only a
try-saving tackle from Bailey that stopped Jackson from going over the try
line.
But Saracens retained possession and through spreading the ball out wide they
soon found a gap in Gloucester's defence and hooker Matt Cairns went over.
Cairns' try was however all Saracens could manage, with Gloucester hanging on
to the 19-8 win to take them back up to fifth on the league ladder.
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