There was no question they were good enough to beat a side who have been notoriously inconsistent this season but for all their monstrous energy levels and willingness for the fight, they lost because they failed to convert all their opportunities.

Unquestionably they are in better shape than when they were given an almighty shellacking at Twickenham last May but if they expected to take the under-cooked champions on their own patch simply because they had done the business against Wasps and Bath they seriously under-estimated the challenge.

Gloucester are no long a work in progress and head coach Dean Ryan admitted as much after the contest. When the tears dry the realisation they failed to see off the Tigers will hurt even more.

Despite Gloucester's fallibilities in a match that twisted and turned with as much raw effort and full-on abrasiveness as anything this season, Leicester had the odd European champion here, the world class full-back there and a brilliant inside centre to call up when times got sticky.

Throw in a monumental effort from a forward pack that was at its very worst horridly abrasive and it is easy to appreciate how Gloucester were picked off with such efficiency.

The likes of Andy Goode, Geordan Murphy, Ben Kay and Ben Herring were wonderful and although Gloucester could unleash the equally brilliant Akapusi Qera, Alex Brown, Anthony Allen and James Simpson-Daniel it was not enough.

Gloucester also paid the price for not heeding the advice of the referee at the contact area in the second half and drastically missed the brain power and game-shaping qualities of Mike Tindall at centre. He limped out of the contest right before the start and his no-nonsense organisational abilities were missed badly.

The scores were locked at 3-3 when Ryan Lamb landed his second penalty after 16 minutes and when Jordan Crane was yellow carded after 26 minutes for pulling back Simpson-Daniel when Gloucester motored down the right through Iain Balshaw, the stand-off made it 9-3 with the penalty.

And when Harry Ellis also saw yellow for a series of persistent Leicester infringements at the tackle area, Gloucester had a golden opportunity to attack 13 men and stretch out their advantage. But to be fair to Leicester, they are nothing if not gutsy and they stretched the bounds of legality to the limit in defence of their line.

They did it wonderfully well despite a fourth Lamb penalty that made it 12-3 at the break. There had been masses of intensity - Lesley Vainikolo thundered up the centre, Brown crashed up from short range and Qera did what he does best - made mince meat of people in the tackle but Leicester stayed in the contest.

But despite the advantage it was still too close to call. Lamb and Goode swapped penalties before the game swung with the first try after 52 minutes. Leicester won a scrum deep in Gloucester territory, Crane fed a lovely pass out to Goode and he shipped it on to Alex Tuilagi.

Gloucester have come across him before somewhere or other and he bumped his way through Andy Titterrell, Lamb and Alasdair Strokosch for a remarkable score that Goode brilliantly converted from the touchline to bring Leicester to within two points at 15-13.

A slow burner had really set alight and now Gloucester needed something of their own to re-assert their authority and they found it five minutes later. Rory Lawson combined with Luke Narraway to the left and he fed Qera. The flanker had a bit to do but sensationally stepped off his right foot past Tuilagi, drew Murphy and then sent Simpson-Daniel to the line for a great score.

We have been used to seeing Qera smashing the living daylights out of runners but this was something entirely different - a piece of attacking quality that smacked of something wholly different and special.

Lamb nudged over the extra two points and Gloucester were 22-13 ahead approaching the final quarter. But then Gloucester's world began to unravel and it did so from distance.

Leicester were well behind their own barricades when they slithered ball towards Murphy. He should have been hemmed in but somehow wriggled clear on a break that ate up the ground towards half-way. Crane came in and carried hard and although Lawson retrieved possession brilliantly, Gloucester slit their own throats when Lamb's box kick slid off his foot, the panic spread, Balshaw attempted to off-load towards Willie Walker who hadn't read the pass and Mauger dived over the bodies to score.

It was a hammer blow to Gloucester and now concrete evidence Leicester's all-grinning, all in your face physicality and disruptiveness may just hold the day.

But the contest was not over. When the brilliant Brown robbed a Leicester line-out, Lamb thought he had scored at the sticks but Luke Narraway's pass was called back as forward and then they were penalised at the contact area again and Goode landed the penalty to take the Tigers 22-23 ahead with 12 minutes left.

Time and chances were ticking by. Lamb missed a penalty from long range but when Gloucester stole back possession, Walker dropped back into the pocket and his drop-goal slid home via the right post to take Gloucester back ahead, 25-23.

There was a little under five minutes to go and the ball was back in Gloucester's court. All they had to do was keep the ball but when they attempted to play and coughed up the most valuable commodity in Gloucestershire, the Tigers regrouped, Crane set up the move and Goode dropped a goal that settled the contest and once again broke Gloucester hearts.