ZACH Mercer summed up the Gloucester elation after this narrow win by saying: “I can’t quite believe what’s happened. Everyone wrote us off before we got on the park.”
This man-of-the-match performance will put Mercer back in the talk for England‘s tour to New Zealand. His boss George Skivington said his No.8 was producing his best form after a difficult return to England from Montpellier last summer.
Skivington said Mercer had found it hard to deal with continuing rejection by England and recent injury. He said: “Zach is starting to find his form. He gave us really good momentum. Leicester don’t concede many tries here and yet Zach found line break after line break. To find his way through as many times as he did is world class.”
Leicester’s Jack van Poortvliet came through his first action this season following a serious ankle injury. The scrum-half, who played the last 30 minutes, said it had been a “long slog” back “but it’s good to get out there. Now we must focus on getting a win at Newcastle.”
