Gloucester lose out after Mercier mishap

Gloucester's French kicking machine Ludovic Mercier had a rare off day yesterday and it cost Philippe Saint-Andre's side dear at high-flying London Irish.

Mercier is the Premiership's leading scorer and goal-kicker, so it was a shock to the Gloucester system when he contrived to miss five penalty goal attempts in the first half at the Made-jski Stadium.

It was Gloucester's bad luck to come up against the man pushing Mercier hard in second place in the scoring tables, Irish's Barry Everitt.

He kicked everything on offer as Irish raced to a 12-0 lead after 27 minutes and extended it to 19-0 by half-time thanks to the game's only try, from James Cockle.

The flanker was the first to react when the ball squirted out of a scrum on the Gloucester line for a try which the immaculate Everitt converted.

The half-time break served to rejuvenate Mercier and his team-mates and Gloucester emerged to turn the game around.

The fly half's famed left boot was suddenly swinging sweetly as he succeeded with his next five kicks at goal as Gloucester reduced the deficit to just four points with 17 minutes still to play.