Gloucester win comes at a cost

Gloucester continued their march towards Heineken Cup success with an emphatic 31-7 defeat of Bourgoin at the Stade Pierre Rajon - but it came at a cost.

They lost three internationals to injury in the second half, with England's Mike Tindall and Olly Morgan and Scotland's Chris Paterson forced off with leg, shoulder and rib problems. Iain Balshaw also had a spell off with a cut shin, but was able to return.

The disruption, in conjunction with a hailstorm, had Gloucester reeling in the third quarter of the game. They conceded one try to flanker Julien Frier, converted by Benjamin Boyet, but their defence held under considerable pressure and they finished the game off with a try that stamped their authority on the contest.

In stark contrast to their struggles against Agen last season, Gloucester have come of age in the competition this term. Their pack dominated the first half and with Tindall crashing through midfield and Fijian flanker Akapusi Qera powering through tackles, they had Bourgoin on the rack.

They should have had more than the tries from Anthony Allen and James Simpson-Daniel before half-time, but for a few handling errors and a couple of squandered chances on the line.

Ryan Lamb, who mixed up his kicking game with trickery and tenacity, popped a quick pass to Allen and the centre spun past Rudi Coetzee to ease over for the opening touchdown in the fifth minute. But with their scrum creaking, Bourgoin conceded a penalty for Lamb to put over.

From a solid line-out and drive, Rory Lawson released Lamb, who swung his pass around Boyet for Simpson-Daniel to dot down under the posts.

Lamb's second conversion sent Gloucester into the interval leading 17-0 and his taunting of Boyet continued in the second half when he intercepted his counterpart's pass 45 metres out and scurried in for the third try, which he also converted.

But as Gloucester lost key casualties, Bourgoin took advantage. Mathieu Nicolas went close, denied by a desperate tackle by Iain Balshaw, before continued pressure drove Frier over.

Gloucester finally broke the shackles and made it back to Bourgoin's 22 in the final minute of the game, stretching the hosts and sending replacement hooker Andy Titterrell over for a try, converted by Lamb, to secure the Kingsholm club's second bonus point from three games.