Walker puts boot into Tigers

Gloucester maintained their unbeaten start to the Guinness Premiership season with a 30-17 victory against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.

Fly-half Willie Walker kicked 15 points and sealed the result for the Cherry-and-Whites with his side's third try in the 73rd minute.

Leon Lloyd, who left Welford Road after 11 years to join Gloucester in the summer, required just five minutes to make an impact against his former team-mates.

The winger appeared to know exactly what was coming when Goode launched an over-ambitous mis-pass in midfield, allowing him to pick off the interception and saunter in for the opening try.

Goode and Walker exchanged penalties before referee Roy Maybank made his presence felt by awarding Gloucester a penalty try following a series of Leicester infringements while defending scrums on their own five-metre line.

The final straw for Maybank occurred when Julian White appeared to collapse the scrum, although replays suggested the Leicester tight-head had lost his footing rather make a deliberate attempt at foul-play.

Gloucester were forced to make a change when Andy Hazell suffered a rib injury after being accidentally caught by team-mate Alex Brown at a ruck. Hazell looked in agonising pain as he walked from the field to be replaced by Will James.

Walker added the conversion and a 33rd-minute penalty to extend his side's lead to 17 points. In contrast, his opposite number Goode continued to struggle and scuffed two further penalty attempts to leave Leicester trailing 20-3 at the break.

Goode replaced

The introduction of Paul Burke for Goode at half-time failed to stem the Cherry-and-White's dominance during the early stages of the second-half.

The video referee denied the visitors a try in the 47th minute when - after lengthy deliberation - Louis Deacon's last-ditch tackle was ruled to have prevented the ball being grounded.

Leciester finally got across the try-line in the 71st minute when replacement Tom Croft entered the line at pace, collected Matt Cornwell's offload, and then left a trio of defenders in his wake with an impressive turn of pace.

But Walker responded three minutes later with Gloucester's third try, evading some weak tackles to dive over from close range for the game-clinching score.

Cornwell added a second try for the hosts in the final minute, and Burke converted to reduce Leicester's margin of defeat to 30-17.