Gloucester Rugby 48

London Welsh 10

HENRY Purdy grabbed a brace of second-half tries as Gloucester Rugby secured maximum points against Aviva Premiership Rugby bottom side London Welsh at Kingsholm in a match marred by injuries to Henry Trinder, Charlie Sharples and Matt Kvesic.

They scored six tries through Ross Moriarty, Sharples, Kvesic, Sila Puafisi and two from  Purdy, with James Hook kicking two penalties and six conversions.

Welsh replied with a try from Carl Kirwan with a penalty and conversion from Will Robinson.

Gloucester had 27 points on the scoreboard by the interval but injuries to Trinder, Sharples and Kvesic caused Gloucester to become disjointed in the second half which their boss, David Humphreys, accepted.

"The injuries took the gloss off the win," Humphreys said.

"I'm hugely disappointed for Henry Trinder as he has worked hard to get back."

"Matt Kvesic has a blow to the arm. It looked serious when he came off. You fear the worst but hope for the best.

"However I'm delighted with our five points as it maintains our good start to the year. Welsh came out with an edge in the second half but we still finished with 48 points."

Gloucester's star performer was Hook, who praised the performance in difficult circumstances.

"We did what we had to do in terrible conditions as it was tough to break them down but it was terrible luck for Henry (Trinder)," Hook said.

"They adapted better to the conditions in the second half but we kicked on at the end to get a bonus point with two late tries."

Gloucester now face two difficult fixtures in the next two weeks with an away trip to Wasps and a home game with leaders Northampton.

Humphreys added: "This period will be absolutely critical. These are bigger challenges but we are very excited at being still able to compete for a top six place.

"With these injuries we will have to use more of our squad."