Gloucester top group after superb evening of Sevens' Rugby at Kingsholm

The evening began with new signing Ben Morgan taking off from the Kingsholm pitch in a hot-air balloon and this gave the 8,494 bumper crowd a glimpse of what was to come as the Cherry and Whites turned on the style with 3 wins against local rivals Bath, Worcester and Exeter to secure a place in the finals night at The Rec next Friday evening.

The Kingsholm crowd was treated to 6 tries from player-of-the-evening Ian Clark including a first half hat-trick in the final game in the West-Country derby and an all-round solid team display as Gloucester dominated long spells of all 3 of their fixtures in the evening sunshine.

A double from Clark and tries from Dan Robson, Gareth Evans, skipper for the evening Jonny May and a first Cherry and White try for new signing Shane Monahan secured a 36-7 win in the curtain-raiser of the evening.

Bath were in similar try-scoring form on Gloucester soil and crossed 5 times thanks to doubles from both Tom Biggs and Richard Lane to beat the Worcester Warriors by 35-12 and then Exeter 19-12 after a pair of tries from Olly Woodburn and Biggs crossing again.

Gloucester were back in action to then beat Worcester thanks to an entertaining first half, tries from Evans and Clark then a double from Burns who crossed with 2 crowd-pleasing efforts and showing superb balance and side-steps meant Gloucester went into the interval 26-7 ahead. Despite a quick-fire pair of tries from Samoan International David Lemi for the Warriors, a superb try-saving tackle from Dan Robson and then a try for Henry Trinder meant Gloucester secured the game 33-24.

The battle for the wooden-spoon on the evening between Exeter and Worcester meant the Chiefs came out on top thanks to a last-kick conversion by Luke Treharne to win 26-24 meaning both Gloucester and Bath had qualified with a game to spare.

The final game, complete with a rousing rendition of the YMCA from the Kingsholm crowd saw the West-Country derby with top spot in the group table and more importantly local bragging rights at stake.

In the end, the first half hat trick from 18 year-old winger Ian Clark and a late score from Monahan meant Gloucester secured a third and final bonus point 24-17 victory, perhaps the only sour note being the imperious Freddie Burns limping off after a very late tackle in his own 22.

With 43 tries scored throughout the night, and a total of £4,300 being donated by JP Morgan Asset Investment to Sports Relief and the Cherry and Whites putting on a real show in front of the 8,494 crowd.