What A Thriller

At the end of a week when rugby union's various travails were given a very public airing it was left to the Premiership players to show what a great game we still have . Gloucester and Bristol Bears more than playing their part in a massively entertaining game at Kingsholm with some spectacular tries among the 13 that were scored.

Gloucs deservedly came out on top 53-28. Old stagers might say that a lack of attention to detail in defence leads to such high scores,  but if the game is to attract new players and supporters it is contests like this that will pave the way.

Some of the tries were breathtaking as both Christian Wade and Seb Atkinson scored hat-tricks to move Gloucs up to third in the table.

It was a tremendous start with the bonus point secured for the Cherry and Whites before the game was a quarter over.

Bristol had done the same last week, but they were powerless to hold Gloucs back as Santi Carreras slipped the ball into the path of Christian  Wade to touchdown in the corner after just three minutes.

Minutes later Carreras picked up a loose ball with his one-handed pass sending Josh Hathaway in. Chris Harris soon getting the third from a penalty kick to the corner.

From the restart the Shed was in heaven as the kick off went straight out. From the scrum Josh Hathaway broke clear with his high pass collected one-handed by Tomos Williams who sent in Seb Atkinson for the bonus point and to take the score to 24-0.

Bristol we not prepared to lie down - scoring three times before the break. However, Gloucs also managed to cross twicemore  taking the half-time score to 34-21. 

Nobody expected that scoring rate to be maintained but  Gloucs did get three more before  James Williams crssed to earn the visitors a try-bonus point.

Superb stuff. Can Gloucs keep it going in the Euro Challenge cup next week in Montpellier?