Gloucester did what they needed to with the big Munster match the next week. Unfortunately Gloucester never really got going until midway through the second period when Simpson-Daniel came on. Gloucester 64-16 Viadana.

Gloucester took the lead after five minutes. It was obvious that that the Viadana defence was not going to instantly fold like many had predicted and possibly even the Gloucester players were of the mind that they wouldn’t need to put in too much effort. However Marcel Garvey got the scoreboard ticking with a try in the corner that he cleverly rounded off. Mercier converted.

The next action was from Viadana, when they were awarded a penalty. Casper Steyn drew the kick wide. Soon after that the Viadana scrum half was yellow carded after a brawl in which he must have done something illegal.

The referee had a very poor game. Often simple things were missed and it often seemed that he was watching a different game when he would blow up for infringements that there is no way he could have seen.

After a long period with no score, Gloucester added to the scoreboard again. Mercier strangely opted to kick for 3 points. He hit the post, and the ball was recycled sending James Forrester over.

It was still not the sort of rugby we were expecting to see. It was much slower then expected and often the backs would come up too flat and there would be no-one coming at the ball with pace.

However later in the half Gloucester added a third try.  Mercier sprinted through a gap and passed to Tom Beim, who skilfully rounded the last defender to score. Mercier converted.

On the half time whistle Viadana put their first points on the board with a penalty from Casper Steyn, the fullback.

It was in the second half when replacements started to come on that Gloucester woke up and started ripping Viadana apart. Junior Paramore started the rout when he sprinted 20 metres to score.

However Viadana got back in to it with a try of their own when Henry Paul messed up at centre and fullback Casper Steyn claimed the ball and sprinted under the posts. Steyn scored all of Viadana’s points and his try rounded off a good match for the full back. Soon after he kicked a penalty from the half way line to bring Viadana right back in to it.

It was then that Gloucester started to really run on all cylinders. A five metre lineout was won by Gloucester and a typical maul was rounded off by Olivier Azam. Mercier converted. Soon after Junior Paramore got his second.

Then James Simpson-Daniel came on. The youngster had been out with Glandular fever, and made his return to the side. He looked very sharp and scored a decent try. Ludovic Mercier broke away again and Sinbad did what he does best as he was on his shoulder the whole way. As the last defender approached Ludo released the England star who went under the posts. Ludo converted.

Robert Todd was the next to score. Sinbad broke away and clever slipped a reverse pass to Robert Todd who powered his way down the open wing and slid in at the corner.

The final, and tenth try, was also a good one. With Simpson-Daniel and Vickery on the pitch the team seemed to have a different view of the game and flare and guile started to come in to the equation. As the ball was played through the backs Phil Vickery broke away with pace you wouldn’t expect from a prop. Holding the ball in one hand he drew the defender and released Chris Collins, the extremely promising hooker. He went over for his first ever Gloucester try.

Final score Gloucester 64-16 Viadana