IT is a staggering statistic to think Gloucester were without 16 full internationals as they trotted out to face Leicester on Friday night, but now those players must fight to get back into the side ahead of their perceived understudies.

Had the game ended in defeat, head coach Bryan Redpath would quite rightly not used it as an excuse, but seeing as Gloucester somehow managed to pull a win from nowhere, he was able to mention it with a smile in the post-match dispatches.

Leicester had men of their own missing, most notably club captain Geordan Murphy and talisman openside Lewis Moody, but the odds were stacked against the home side given their record of six defeats in a row, three of them at Kingsholm, before the game.

Add to that the disruption caused by the late withdrawals of James Simpson-Daniel, Nicky Robinson and Olly Morgan, and there seemed no way the run of defeats was going to end against the Guinness Premiership champions.

But end it did as Gloucester collectively stepped up to the plate and smashed back everything that came at them, led by prop Nick Wood who had an outstanding game, playing himself into the ground for 60 minutes before new England man Paul Doran-Jones trotted on to replace him.

The 12 points which came from the boot of Freddie Burns ended up being enough.

The youngster was not even in the original starting line-up but played with a maturity beyond his years until he succumbed to the troublesome cramp which Redpath admitted ‘needs sorting out’, which suggests surgery might be the only answer.

Burns showed he is a fast learner as, after making the error which brought Wasps back into the game last week, he refused to allow Gloucester to play inside their own half against Leicester and that coupled with some huge defence from Wood, Peter Buxton, Jake Boer and company, was the story of the match.

Of the 26 points Gloucester have now scored in the last two games, Burns has all of them, with a full house to his name: two tries and two conversions against Wasps, two penalties and two drop goals against Leicester. Redpath knows in the shape of Burns and half-back partner Dave Lewis, who had his best game in the number nine shirt on Friday, the future looks good at the fulcrum of his team.

The only problem which surfaced again was the inability to turn pressure into points. Had Lote Tuqiri caught the pass from Anthony Allen and beaten the defence to score it would have been a completely different story. Redpath knows Gloucester should have been well clear by that point, blaming a Carlos Spencer groin strain for the turning down of at least one kickable penalty.

Spencer’s injury actually came after the 56th-minute opportunity was sent into touch, and he tried and missed a chance after he had done it. The truth is Spencer’s kicking confidence is rock bottom, so he either addresses that with practice or Gloucester must look elsewhere when he is on the field.

Add Gloucester’s gift of two of Leicester’s three penalties, the first after going to sleep at a restart and the second after a poor Burns kick, and the visitors should never have been near winning, which can only be encouraging.

This was a victory built on pure will to win from the forwards as a unit, who showed they are able to dominate teams and provide decent ball for the backs, as they have done regularly recently. The backs, who were rocked by the late withdrawals, are clearly out of practice at adding that finishing touch, dropping the final pass or taking the wrong option when in space.

If that can be addressed, Gloucester can go on a winning run. The first challenge is to show Friday night was no accident.

Gloucester: T Voyce; C Sharples, H Trinder, T Molenaar, L Vainikolo; F Burns, D Lewis; N Wood, D Dawiduik, G Somerville; W James, D Attwood, P Buxton, J Boer, G Delve (capt). Reps: B Phillips, P Doran-Jones (Wood 64), P Capdevielle (Somerville 70), A Eustace, N Thomas, J Pasqualin, C Spencer (Burns 49), J May.

Leicester: S Hamilton (yellow card 71); L Tuqiri, A Allen, A Mauger (capt), J Murphy; J Staunton, B Youngs; B Stankovich, M Davies, D Cole; G Parling, B Kay; B Deacon, B Pienaar, J Crane. Reps: G Chuter (Davies 58), R Harris, J Harris, C Green, D Hemingway, J Grindal, T Flood (Staunton 75), M Smith.

Referee: S Davey

Attendance: 12,521