Leicester Tigers' three-game winning run at Kingsholm came to an end with an error-ridden 12-9 Guinness Premiership defeat last night.

In a dour game, lit up only by a thrilling last 10 minutes as Tigers chased the game a man down after Scott Hamilton's yellow card, two drop goals and two penalties from teenage fly-half Freddie Burns earned Gloucester a first win in seven matches.

Jeremy Staunton hit three penalties for the visitors to grab a bonus point but Tigers were off-key, lacked cohesion and spent virtually the whole of the second half defending.

With 17 players missing through international call-ups and injury, Richard Cockerill's side never got a chance to expose Gloucester's fragile confidence as they put in one of their most disappointing performances in a long time.

Tenth-placed Gloucester went into the game having lost all six of their previous matches.

Their luck did not improve before kick-off as fly-half Nicky Robinson, winger James Simpson-Daniel and full-back Olly Morgan all pulled out after being named in the initial starting XV.

It looked like it would be a different story as Tigers flew out of the blocks and dominated the opening 10 minutes.

Johne Murphy's catch under pressure started a move in which Ben Youngs made a sniping 30-metre break before Jordan Crane's grubber-kick nearly put Aussie winger Lote Tuqiri in at the corner on his Guinness Premiership debut.

Scrum-half Youngs was involved again on eight minutes, beginning a move which ended in Gloucester winger Lesley Vainikolo conceding a five-metre scrum after Aaron Mauger's clever kick.

Staunton soon kicked the Tigers into a deserved lead but Gloucester got back into it after Leicester made a hash of the re-start.

Some concerted pressure from the Cherry and Whites led to two penalties, which young fly-half Freddie Burns took full advantage of to put his team 6-3 up after the opening quarter.

Burns stretched the lead to 9-3 with a drop-goal after Staunton had missed a penalty. But the former Wasps man made no mistake when handed another opportunity on 32 minutes.

Burns missed a tough kick a minute before half-time after Tigers prop Dan Cole had been penalised for boring in at a scrum.

It was the final action of a kick-dominated first half dominated by handling errors and the usual complete mess at the breakdown.

Burns and Staunton exchanged three-pointers in the opening five minutes of the second period to make it 12-9 before Carlos Spencer replaced his younger team-mate on 50 minutes.

The former All Black led a counter-attack from another Tigers turnover and the visitors faced some serious pressure as their line-out broke down.

Gloucester, though, were making their fair share of mistakes. A faulty line-out throw on a five-metre feed ended a spell of thrilling, yet scrappy play which finally woke up a dormant Kingsholm.

The game entered the final quarter with Tigers struggling to get out of their own half. Only some dogged defence, slow attacking ball and a poor choice of options from the Gloucester attack kept Tigers in the game.

The home side went through more than 20 phases of possession with a quarter of an hour to go, only for the move to break down and Tigers cleared their lines.

Again, Tigers gave the ball straight back to the hosts, though, and, as Vainikolo attacked, Hamilton was yellow-carded for an offence at a ruck.

It meant Tigers would play the final 10 minutes with 14 men and they made it a thrilling finish.

Spencer missed a penalty and then Youngs missed a long-range penalty with five minutes to go.

Tigers laid siege to the Gloucester line in the final five minutes, however. Anthony Allen nearly got in against his old club after a delicate chip and run and, with time expired, Tuqiri knocked-on a low pass from Allen with the line at his mercy.

Kingsholm greeted the final whistle with delirium and their team went on a lap of honour.

When you have lost six on the trot, there is no better scalp than that of the league champions.