Gloucester Rugby scored two late tries to earn a bonus point victory over Harlequins at a sold out Kingsholm this evening in the Gallagher Premiership.

The Cherry & Whites were dealt an early blow when wing Ollie Thorley was removed from the field for a head injury assessment (HIA). With Thorley's departure though, Louis Rees-Zammit entered the field to make his highly anticipated return from injury.

Gloucester applied the early pressure and came away with the game's first points in the third minute.

Quins' James Chisholm was sent to the sin-bin when he cynically stopped a Gloucester attack. Santi Carreras kicked to the corner, and Seb Blake crossed for the score on his first Premiership start at Kingsholm. Carreras added a difficult conversion to take the lead to 7-0.

The 2020/21 champions weren't behind for long though. In their first real period in the Gloucester 22, they set up a maul of their own which the Cherry & Whites couldn't stop from crossing the whitewash. Tom Lawday the scorer, with Italian international Tommaso Allan adding the extras.

Thorley returned to the field after successfully passing his HIA, and minutes later he was picked out by Carreras with a perfectly placed cross-field kick to score in the corner. Carreras added the conversion.

Quins wing Cadan Murley brought up the first points of the second period when he skipped over untouched for the visitors. The Cherry & Whites kept their lead though, with Allan missing the conversion attempt.

The home side thought they had responded perfectly when Rees-Zammit beat three players and dived into the corner. But he was deemed to have brushed the whitewash as he launched himself towards the line.

Gloucester had to wait until the last ten minutes to retake the lead. Carreras sold the Quins defence with a dummy and sailed over under the uprights. His conversion brought his side back in front.

And the game was put to bed with just five minutes left. Rees-Zammit finally got his try on return after Carreras had put him through a gap in the Quins defence with a brilliant offload. Carreras once again added the conversion.

Tabai Matson's team didn't leave Kingsholm empty-handed, with a late Matas Jurevicius try, they claimed two bonus points in defeat. But the final whistle was blown and the Cherry & Whites were victorious 28-26.

Gloucester Rugby travel to cinch Stadium @ Franklins Gardens to face Northampton Saints next week, before returning to Kingsholm on Sunday 12 March against Leicester Tigers in the Slater Cup.

Cherry & Whites return to Kingsholm with bonus point win over Quins

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