The 2005 and 2006 Premiership Finalists ended a five-year wait for an English crown thanks to tries from Frank Murphy, Martin Corry, Andy Goode, Shane Jennings, Lewis Moody and a brace from man-of-the-match Alesana Tuilagi, along with a further nine points from the boot of Goode.
A match which began in torrential rain ended in bright sunshine as far as every single Tigers fan among the 59,400-strong crowd was concerned as Leicester celebrated a convincing victory after a fantastic team performance.
It was Gloucester who began the game on the front foot however, immediately putting Tigers under pressure from Ryan Lamb’s long kick-off. Frank Murphy’s opening box kick was charged down, resulting in a five-metre scrum to the attacking side with less than a minute played. With Tigers keen for a strong start, everyone in the Leicester camp will have been glad to see the move come to a premature end with a Gloucester knock-on in midfield.
The Cherry and Whites did put points on the board with less than five minutes on the clock though as New Zealander Willie Walker kicked his first points of the afternoon from 25 metres out and from 20 metres to the left of the posts.
Walker’s effort gave the West Country side a 3-0 advantage, but it was Tigers who struck next thanks to a try from scrum-half Murphy. The opening came when captain Corry asked Goode to plant the ball into touch after Walker had been penalised for an illegal tackle on Dan Hipkiss inside the Gloucester 22. The Irishman then burrowed over from close-range after great work from Julian White and Marcos Ayerza had taken Tigers to within five metres of the Gloucester line. Goode added a confident conversion from 10 metres in from touch on the right-hand side to push Tigers 7-3 in front with the game 10 minutes old.
Walker was then off-target with a penalty from the opposite side of the field to his first attempt after 15 minutes, but the former Otago Highlander did reduce the gap to a single point nine minutes later after Tigers had been penalised for hands in the ruck directly in front of the posts.
Goode had an opportunity to re-establish the four-point advantage just four minutes later, but his difficult penalty attempt from 45 metres out and wide on the left fell short of the uprights.
That miss failed to dampen Tigers’ spirits however and it was they who extended their advantage with just over half an hour played. Members’ Player of the Year Tuilagi demonstrated his unique finishing capabilities as he crashed over from 20 metres out. The Samoan international made light work of attempted tackles from Gloucester duo Anthony Allen and Lamb to cross for Leicester’s second try of the match. Goode’s conversion followed a similar pattern to his earlier missed penalty but Tigers still held a 12-6 lead with 32 minutes gone.
Goode did move Tigers two scores in front just three minutes later as he made no mistake with a straight-forward penalty after Tigers had moved the ball fifty metres up-field following determined running and superb off-loading from Seru Rabeni, Moody and George Chuter.
The six-time English champions then had a try disallowed with two-and-a-half minutes of the half remaining. Patient build-up play from the both the pack and the backline resulted in Jennings and Hipkiss forcing their way over, only for the video referee to rule that the grounding was inconclusive.
The television match offical wasn’t needed from the very next phase however, as Corry brushed off Mark Foster’s attempted tackle to grab a well-deserved score. Frank Murphy fed Goode, who in turn passed to Rabeni, with the Fijian’s inside step providing the room for his skipper to loop round from the earlier lineout. Goode’s conversion gave Tigers a 16-point interval lead at 22-16.
Gloucester struck first in the second period, just as they had in the opening half, as Walker slotted his third penalty after Tigers had been punished for coming in at the side.
Any thoughts of the momentum swinging Gloucester’s way seemingly evaporated two minutes later however, as Goode scored a superb individual try in the far left-hand corner. After Corry had done the hard work in midfield, the 27-year-old sliced through the Gloucester defence, dummying his way between and around the out-numbered defenders, before diving over for a sensational score. The fly-half almost made it a seven-point effort, but he saw his touchline conversion strike the left post to leave the score at 27-9 in Tigers’ favour.
Tuilagi then grabbed his second try of the match with 28 minutes still left to play, after he again punished some weak defending in Gloucester’s nine and 10 channel. The 26-year-old took the ball at outside-half deep in his opponents' 22 and simply ran straight and true to register his eighth Premiership score of the season. Goode added the extras from in front of the posts as Tigers built a 34-9 lead with 52 minutes played.
That 25-point advantage soon became 29 as Jennings got on the scoresheet with16 minutes remaining. The openside flanker, playing his penultimate game in Tigers colours before returning to Leinster in the summer, peeled off a driving maul after Goode had kicked for the corner from a close-range penalty. Goode was unable to add the extras from close to the right-hand touchline, but the miss would have little bearing on the outcome of the match as Tigers took a commanding 39-9 lead into the final quarter.
The remainder of the game saw a raft of Tigers substitutions, including an appearance for 17-year-old half-back Ben Youngs, as Howard used his squad resources wisely ahead of next weekend’s European Final. Even a converted interception score from Lamb couldn’t spoil a memorable afternoon for a Tigers side who had the final say courtesy of a try from England and Lions flanker Moody, following another impressive driving maul.
Again, Goode’s well-struck touchline conversion collided with the uprights but it made no difference as Tigers stayed on course for a remarkable treble in what has already been a ground-breaking season, even by Tigers' own high standards.
