Leeds finished bottom of the Premiership last season and were tipped to stay there, but they reached the halfway mark of this campaign third in the table and on yesterday's evidence their position is not a false one.
In the first half they looked likely to be swamped by a Gloucester side defending a 15-month unbeaten record at home and leading the Premiership table. The Tykes were even down to 14 men after the centre Alix Popham was sent to the sin-bin for his second high tackle in as many minutes.
The hapless Popham, normally a back-row, was playing in the centre because Leeds were missing Diego Albanese and Gordon Ross, who were on international duty, and George Harder, who was sidelined by a chest complaint. Popham was not surprisingly disorientated, dropping his first three passes as well as tackling around the head, but he recovered his poise before the end and denied Gloucester a bonus point with a crunching tackle on Henry Paul.
Gloucester were 3-0 ahead by the time Popham departed and they scored 14 points in his absence. The flanker Jake Boer claimed the first try after the referee Steve Leyshon had played advantage, and the second was started and finished by the No8 Junior Parmamore, who stole possession from a Leeds lineout on his own 25 and was on hand to dive over the line after the ball had passed through seven pairs of hands.
Gloucester struggled to make an impact without a man advantage. They scored a third try on the hour through the centre Robert Todd but too often lacked direction tactically. Some of their line-kicking was dreadful and there was a passage of play in the first period when they punted possession away instead of keeping the ball in hand and exploiting a weakened defence which, after Dan Scarbrough's injury, had a wing at full-back, a No8 in the midfield and a centre at outside-half.
"There was a lot for us to take from the game," said Leeds' director of rugby Phil Davies, "but it was disappointing not to secure a bonus point for all the effort we put in. Gloucester showed why they are at the top of the table."
Leeds enjoyed long periods on top, mostly in the second half. If their try came against the run of play when the wing Craig Emmerson intercepted a Todd pass on 36 minutes, they applied considerable pressure to the Gloucester line in the final quarter and should have kept the home side's winning margin down to single figures.
"It was an incredibly physical game," said the Gloucester coach Dean Ryan. "More so than any other we have played this season. Leeds are a side who ask a number of questions of you and fortunately we had most of the answers. By the end we were more physical than they were."
Gloucester were forced to sacrifice the pace of James Forrester in the back row for the strength and bulk of Peter Buxton in the final 25 minutes, and he denied Popham a try with a bear-hug tackle on his former Newport team-mate.
Leeds competed for possession throughout; they shaded the lineout, recovered in the tight after being shunted around initially and achieved several turnovers. They were not the most creative with the ball in hand but that was never likely, given their selection problems.
They made Gloucester work for every point, though, and the home side were not able to cruise in the second half, as is their custom at home, despite leading 20-7 at the interval. Far from thinking of survival, Leeds can start to contemplate the Heineken Cup, having taken over from London Irish as the Premiership's surprise package.
Gloucester: Paul; Delport, Fanolua, Todd, Beim; Mercier, Gomarsall; Roncero, Azam, Deacon, Fidler (Eustace, 75), Cornwell, Boer (capt), Forrester (Buxton, 56), Paramore.
Tries: Boer, Paramore, Todd. Cons: Mercier 2. Pens: Mercier 3.
Sin-bin: Mercier.
Leeds: Scarbrough (Lupton, 28); Hall, Popham, Van Straaten, Emmerson; Davies, Dickens; Shelley (capt), Rawlinson (Regan, 51), Kerr, C Murphy (Campbell, 51), Palmer, Mather, Hyde (Ponton, 51), Feaunati.
Try : Emmerson. Con: Van Straaten. Pen: Van Straaten.
Sin-bin: Popham.
Referee: S Leyshon (Bristol).
Att: 10,276.
