Leeds Carnegie 16 Gloucester 30: Leeds eliminated as Gloucester gain revenge for New Year loss

LEEDS Carnegie head coach Neil Back was pleased by his side's display despite the fact that the only British team they have defeated this season returned to Headingley Carnegie to end their interest in the LV Cup.

Gloucester's defeat here on New Year's Day had given the Premiership strugglers their only domestic win of the campaign, but there seemed little chance of a repeat as tries from Lesley Vainikolo and Tom Voyce plus a conversion and penalty from Freddie Burns gave the visitors a 15-9 lead, with Ceiron Thomas kicking three penalties for the hosts.

Burns further extended Gloucester's lead with another penalty and, despite a fine try for Leeds from Scott Mathie, Nick Wood and Tim Molenaar crossed to give the west-country side the extra point and put them within striking distance of a third successive semi-final in the competition.

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Back said: "I am pleased with the attitude of the squad. They put in a good performance, although it wasn't good enough to win.

"We didn't relieve pressure in our own half well enough in the first half and that gave them some opportunities and they had the pace and skill to finish some good well-taken tries.

"But today was about giving game time to players and giving some players a return from injury. I was pleased with Phil Nilsen at hooker as Steve Thompson is away with England and Andy Titterell is injured. He is the future of the club in that position and his work today was excellent.

"For us it's about building competition in the squad before we return to Premiership action against Leicester next month."

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Leeds's only try came from a superb move started by fly-half Lachlan Mackay on the edge of his 22, replacement scrum-half Mathie finished it off after good work by lock Kearnan Myall and centre Scott Barrow.

And Back hopes his side can replicate that sort of score as they battle for Premiership survival.

"We scored the try of the game which showed the skill we have in this squad and we need to do it more consistently and I'm sure we will see it in the future," he added.

Leeds handed starts to hooker Nilsen and flanker Jacob Rowan, with Thompson and Hendre Fourie away with England. Mackay started at fly-half as Thomas switched to full-back.

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The Cherry and Whites made the best possible start as Leeds conceded a scrum after failing to gather the kick-off. The ball was moved wide by fly-half Burns and Vainikolo stepped through some feeble tackling to touch down for an unconverted try inside two minutes.

Despite that poor start, the home side enjoyed the better of the opening quarter without threatening the visitors' line, but Thomas put them on the board with an 18th-minute penalty after Olivier Azam was penalised for coming offside at a maul.

But Gloucester's five-point lead was quickly re-established after a lovely offload from Qera set up a simple penalty chance which Burns knocked over.

Leeds stepped up the pressure as a concerted attack saw prop Mike MacDonald bundled into touch just short of the line and a sharp counter-attack soon after yielded another penalty, Thomas again hitting the target.

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For all that pressure, Gloucester looked the sharper in attack and a lovely chip and regather by Burns created their second try in the 33rd minute. The outside-half's offload found flanker Alasdair Strokosch, and winger Voyce burst through a sleeping home defence to score under the posts, Burns adding the extras to make it 15-6.

However, Thomas did trim the lead with his third penalty on the stroke of the interval after a cynical piece of defending by Hamilton to end a forgettable opening half.

The standard barely improved after the interval although a powerful Gloucester scrum saw MacDonald cave in and concede a penalty which Burns slotted with 25 minutes to play. The Yorkshire side hit back with a good spell of concerted pressure with back-row Rhys Oakley making some useful ground, but MacDonald could not find Thomas with the final pass.

And their pressure finally paid off as they scored a try completely out of keeping with the rest of the contest.

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Mackay made a scything break from deep and found Michael Stephenson as he fell to ground. The winger in turn found lock Myall before Barrow sent replacement scrum-half Mathie behind the sticks. Thomas converted to set up a tense final 15 minutes.

Gloucester were dealt a further blow when Vainikolo was helped off with an arm injury but they responded as replacement prop Wood rumbled over from a line-out to all but seal the win as Nicky Robinson added the conversion.

Centre Molenaar then brushed off some weak tackling for the fourth try as Leeds were eliminated.

Gloucester forwards coach Carl Hogg said: "It was a workmanlike performance. I felt we got our approach right mentally and structurally and in the first 20 minutes laid a platform to win the game."

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Leeds Carnegie: Thomas, Blackett, Fa'afili, Barrow, Stephenson, Mackay, Fury; MacDonald, Nilsen, Swainston, Denton, Myall, Oakley, Rowan, To'oala. Replacements: Freer, Hardy, Denman, Craig, Stedman, Mathie, Tincknell, Hinton.

Gloucester: Sharples, Voyce, May, Molenaar, Vainikolo, Burns, Lewis; Thomas, Azam, Harden, James, Hamilton, Strokosch, Qera, Cox. Replacements: Lawson, Wood, Knight, Brown, Hazell, Pasqualin, Robinson, Taylor.

Referee: L Hodges (Wales).