Gloucester triumph in Premiership Cup final to clinch first trophy in nine years

Out of favour England star Zach Mercer impressed as Gloucester proved too good for Leicester Tigers

Zach Mercer gave Steve Borthwick another hefty nudge in his direction as the powerful No 8 inspired Gloucester to a first piece of silverware for nine years.
The Premiership Cup Final victory over Tigers will act as a timely boost heading back into the final stretch of the Premiership campaign next week.
Mercer, who is hoping to force his way back into the England side, produced another skillful and hugely physical performance The No 8 tackled, carried and defended stoutly as Gloucester proved too good.
Seb Atkinson and Cameron Jordan crossed for the hosts who trailed 6-3 at half-time but took a stranglehold on the game in the second half with Leicester reduced to 13 men at one stage with two players in the sin bin.
Seb Atkinson gets the first try of the evening and @gloucesterrugby are ahead! 🏉#PremRugbyCup pic.twitter.com/6sUDd3AtB7
And a delighted Mercer, who returned to the Premiership from France last summer when he signed a four-year deal, insisted: “I came to Gloucester to win things. I did that at Montpellier so to get a trophy so soon since I arrived feels special.
“It’s been a very tough season for us. We wanted to win the Premiership Cup and we’ve done it.”
“Leicester are a world class outfit and we needed to be at our best. Now we will concentrate on the league and try and improve our position near the bottom.”
Both sides struggled to spark in an opening 40 minutes which saw two Handre Pollard penalties compared to one from Lloyd Evans, poke Tigers noses ahead at the break.
Two-time World Cup winner Handre Pollard gives Leicester the lead over Gloucester! 🙌#PremRugbyCup pic.twitter.com/qMq8yPem8t
The enforced seven-week break due to the Six Nations has clearly taken some of the edge off players who are now facing a short burst of a run-in to the Premiership with just six rounds of games remaining.
Tigers paid the price for having hooker Theobald-Thomas sin-binned shortly before the break and and then Mike Brown after it. A 6-0 lead turned to a 23-6 deficit as centre Atkinson and then lock Jordan found big holes in the flagging Leicester defence to cross for tries. 
Fly-half George Barton, who had to come through a first-half HIA to keep playing, increased the lead with two penalties.
Tigers refused to give up the fight and finished strongly with Gloucester having Jordan sin-binned and South African flanker Hanro Liebenberg reaching out to claim a try.
However, some stout defence from the hosts ensured they were not going to be denied their first piece of silverware since winning the European Challenge Cup in 2015.
Director of Rugby George Skivington enthused: “It’s a long time since we have won a trophy here so we need to enjoy it before preparing for the visit to Leicester.”
Tigers head coach Dan McKellar suggested his side suffered for “15 minutes of chaos”. But he quickly fixed his sights on the bid to win another Premiership title and insisted: “We will dust ourselves off and get back to playing Gloucester at Welford Road. We need to ensure we have a good run in to the season.”