Gloucester flying high
Gloucester maintained their position at the head of the Guinness Premiership with a 27-0 bonus-point win against Bristol.
Last Updated: 29/12/07 6:11pm
Gloucester maintained their position at the head of the Guinness Premiership with a 27-0 bonus-point win against Bristol, their eighth victory in nine league games this season.
But the Cherry-and-Whites' day was marred by an injury to centre Mike Tindall, who limped off with a calf problem after just 14 minutes.
Tindall's replacement Leon Lloyd scored two of Gloucester's four tries as they comfortably overcame their local rivals in front of a capacity 16,000 crowd at Kingsholm.
Ryan Lamb opened the scoring with a fourth-minute penalty, and the hosts extended that early advantage to 15-0 by the interval courtesy of tries from Olivier Azam and Lloyd.
Hooker Azam touched down in the 16th minute and, 13 minutes later, was followed across the whitewash by Lloyd when he collected fly-half Lamb's perfectly weighted kick ahead.
Bonus point
Gloucester's dominance continued after the break - winger James Simpson-Daniel marked his 100th league appearance with his side's third try in the 60th minute.
Simpson-Daniel collected Lamb's pass and scorched to the line from 50 metres out, and the bonus-point was soon secured when Lloyd went in for his second try in the 66th minute.
Lamb converted both Lloyd's efforts but also missed five kicks at goal that on another day would have been more costly.
Bristol's miserable afternoon was completed when skipper Matt Salter was sent to the sin-bin for lunging at Azam, while Gloucester lock Marco Bortolami also saw yellow late on for a lineout infringement.
The result puts Gloucester five points above Bath at the top of the Guinness Premiership, with the westcountry rivals meeting at the Recreation Ground next Friday.
