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Gloucester win battle of the boots
Rugby Union, 10:27, November 21, 2009 ,
Gloucester coach Bryan Redpath made no excuses for his side's style of play as they beat Leicester 12-9 on Friday night.
The Cherry and Whites had won just two of their previous seven Guinness Premiership matches but they edged a turgid affair at Kingsholm, with replacement fly-half Freddie Burns kicking all his side's points to see them move up to seventh in the table.
Burns was only playing due to the late withdrawal of Nicky Robinson but he kept his nerves to land two penalties and two drop-goals, while opposite number Jeremy Staunton kicked three penalties for the Tigers.
The hosts were missing 16 players from international calls but they dominated the second half, without crossing the whitewash despite the best efforts of wing Lesley Vainikolo.
Defeat would have been harsh on Gloucester but Tigers' star winger Lote Tuqiri knocked on with the line at his mercy towards the end of the match.
Redpath was happy to accept any good fortune going and felt that taking the points was far more important than putting on a show in difficult conditions.
"We needed a little bit of fortune at the end, with a missed penalty and the knock-on," he said. "I have never faulted the players' efforts over the last five or six weeks and sometimes we may be boring to watch but you have to be in the right areas to be in these games and work hard to create pressure.
"And, in the second half, we had huge amounts of pressure and possession and we got a bit of reward."