Leicester beat Gloucester 38-31 to claim first home win of season

Leicester Tigers defeated Gloucester 38-31 at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Friday for their first home victory of the season. BBC Sport reported that the visitors remained top of the Prem despite suffering their first defeat of the campaign.

Watch the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmE2ZBg7q4w

Billy Searle's early yellow card allowed Gloucester to capitalise through tries from Jac Morgan and Dian Bleuler. Leicester responded with scores from Finn Carnduff, Joe Heyes and Jamie Blamire, turning the contest around to reach half-time with a 21-14 advantage.

Aaron Wainwright and Ollie Hassell-Collins added Leicester's second-half tries, with Will Trenholm crossing for Gloucester in between. Searle finished with five conversions and a penalty, supplying 13 points alongside the home side's five tries, according to the BBC match report.

The result followed contrasting starts to the league season. Sky Sports' results listing records Leicester losing 40-38 at home to Saracens on September 27 before winning 24-19 away to Newcastle on October 3. Friday's victory therefore gave Tigers consecutive league wins after an opening defeat, as well as a home result to build on following that narrow loss to Saracens.

Gloucester had arrived after two much more emphatic league victories. They beat Exeter 45-24 away on September 26 and then shut out Harlequins 48-0 at home on October 3, according to Sky Sports. Across those two matches they had scored 93 points and conceded 24, a strong start that Leicester interrupted in the third round of the competition on Friday.

The recent head-to-head record also favoured Tigers. TNT Sports' fixture statistics list Leicester victories in both of the teams' previous two league meetings: 45-14 at home in December 2025 and 36-17 at Gloucester in March 2026. Friday extended that winning sequence, although Gloucester finished much closer to Leicester than in either of those encounters.

Gloucester still secured two bonus points late on. BBC Sport reported that Jack Innard's 79th-minute try earned one before George Barton's penalty in the 82nd minute added the losing bonus.