Woodman pops up to restore Gloucester's balance of power

Gloucester 18 Harlequins 17

They do not like being pushed around at Kingsholm, especially by the fancy-dans from the capital, but for much of this narrowest of victories the Gloucester power machine made little impact on a stubborn Quins defence.

It did not help that Gloucester disappointed the 11,000 capacity crowd that is the norm now by consistently turning the ball over, dropping kicks or passes and knocking on at every other sequence of play. Not that Quins were error free; just that they had much less possession and therefore less opportunity to err.

In fact the only part of the game that was up to standard was the Gloucester line-out, which must be the best and most consistent in the Premiership. And yet it was in keeping with the nature of the afternoon that the scores and decisive passages of play all came from mistakes.

The most important, only because it resulted in the winning try by Trevor Woodman, was in the 66th minute. The England prop had made an impressive impact since his arrival in the 50th minute and supported a superb move by the speedsters James Simpson-Daniel and Thinus Delport after the South African had caught a poorly directed crossfield kick from Andy Dunne. A neat interchange of passes created the score, although Delport was then carried from the field with an injured knee.

It gave them the lead for the first time in the match, which despite being narrowed to a single point was not really threatened. Indeed Henry Paul missed two later penalties that would have eased the tension, given that Quins were visibly tiring even though their effort never wavered.

What they lacked was invention. Their scores had been scavenged rather than created, both tries coming from kicks and being helped by poor Gloucester play. The first, by Will Greenwood in the 27th minute, came when he chased a grubber kick and Duncan McRae, the covering defender, did not see him coming. The second in the 48th minute was from a series of fly-hacks that were tidied up by the flanker Pat Sanderson, the lock Jim Evans and finally the scorer, the prop Ceri Jones.

It was not enough, especially as Simpson-Daniel had been equally predatory in the 37th minute when his speed of foot and thought won him the race to the ball after his pack had stolen the scrum against the head.

So a second home league defeat was avoided, just, and the Shed, those notorious fans of the rough stuff, enjoyed a bout of fisticuffs for which Chris Fortey and Evans received red cards in the 63rd minute. Exactly as they like it - a good scrap that they win.

Gloucester 18 Harlequins 17

Half-time: 5-7 Attendance: 11,000

Gloucester: T Delport (T Fanolua, 69); M Garvey, R Todd, H Paul, J Simpson-Daniel; D McRae, A Gomarsall; R Roncero (T Woodman, 50), C Fortey, A Deacon, A Eustace (M Cornwell, 60), A Brown, J Boer (capt), J Paramore (C Collins, 75), P Buxton.

Harlequins: G Duffy; R Jewell, W Greenwood, C Bell, S Keogh; A Dunne, S Bemand; C Jones, A Tiatia, J Leonard (J Dawson, 57), B Davison (K Rudzki, 57), J Evans, P Sanderson, T Diprose (R Winters, 65), A Vos (capt).

Referee: T Spreadbury (Bristol).