Gloucester made it four wins out of four in the European Challenge Cup with a resounding 32-16 victory against Zebre this afternoon.
The home side got off to a solid start in the game as they earned two early penalties within kicking range and Luciano Orquera dispatched them both to fire his side into a 6-0 lead.
Gloucester hit back in the 29th minute in a fortunate fashion as Tom May broke down the left, but had the ball knocked loose, but it fell into the path of Stephen McColl who powered over for a try. James Hook added the two-point conversion to hand his side the lead.
Hook added a penalty just before the break as tempers flared in the match, which saw the home side reduced to 14 men as David Odiete was red-carded for a high challenge on McColl.
In the second half, Gloucester took the initiative as they powered further ahead thanks to an excellent run by Billy Twelvetrees, who beat two men before offloading to Henry Purdy for the try, while Hook once again added the extras.
Hook showed his quality with the ball in his hands as he delayed his pass perfectly when raiding forward to pick out the run of Charlie Sharples, who was left with a simple run to the tryline to register the score.
The visitors were in full control of the game and they put it beyond doubt with another excellent attacking move as Hook and Twelvetrees combined to release Ben Morgan, who powered over for the try.
Aleki Lutui was yellow-carded for the visitors and that allowed the home side to score two late tries through Giovanbattista Venditti and Dries van Schalkwyk, but the conversions were not added for Zebre as Billy Burns secured his side's victory with a late penalty.
Simon Sinclair
