Beim's five-try blitz stuns Roma

Gloucester galloped to the top of their Heineken Cup group after an amazing five-try burst from former polo professional Tom Beim.

The 24-year-old wing, who barely touched the ball in the first half, broke the European Cup record with five scores in 40 minutes after the break. Following his final lung-bursting dash from fully 80 metres, all Beim wanted was a rest. 'I had no idea it was a record,' he said later. 'I was looking around for someone to pass to but there was no-one there.' Beim has played just five games after a six-month lay-off caused by a shoulder injury. He very nearly didn't play professional rugby at all. 'I played polo professionally for a year after school,' said Beim. 'Then I had to choose. Rob Fidler (Gloucester second row) rang me on a Tuesday to invite me to training at Kingsholm. If he hadn't called I would probably have gone to play polo in Dubai because I had an offer from there on the Wednesday.' Polo's loss was Gloucester's gain. Beim's amazing finishing transformed a Gloucester performance that was far from impressive in the first half. They led 14-9 thanks to a well-worked try from French wing Franck Schisano but the line-out and scrummage struggled against a determined Roma pack.

A half-time rocket from coach Philippe Saint-Andre galvanised his men. He said: 'The first half was not acceptable and I told them so. We lost seven line-outs and the backs only touched the ball four times.' Beim started his one-man demolition in the 44th minute. He broke Roma with four tries in 28 minutes - three from long range. The coup de grace came in the fourth minute of injury time after a Roma attack broke down in his own 22.

He said: 'I've scored five tries before but that was for Sale against Orrell. That was about all I did score for them.' Roma fly half Andrea Scanavacca kicked three penalties and a drop goal but they had no answer to the class of Gloucester's stand-in fly half Jason Little and the finishing power of Beim.

Little, who kicked just once from the hand, switched from the centre after Simon Mannix broke his hand against Llanelli. The £200,000-a-year signing appears to have the Midas touch. With him at the helm, Gloucester have won three games in a row and scored 117 points in the process.