Thorley scores four tries as Gloucester trounce Zebre 69-12

Gloucester Rugby 69-12 Zebre, Kingsholm
Scorecard

Ollie Thorley scored four tries as Gloucester Rugby trounced Zebre 69-12 to boost their chances of making into the quarter-final of the European Rugby Challenge Cup with a 69-12 win over Zebre at Kingsholm on Saturday.

The win has helped Gloucester narrowed down the difference with the top placed Pau to three points while winless Zebre languish at the bottom.

Halaifonua Tonga (7' and 15'), Thorley (11'), Will Safe (25'), Charlie Sharples (34') and Cameron Orr (40') all scored the first half tries for the Cherry and Whites while Billy Twelvetrees slotted conversions on five occasions as they added 45 unanswered points before the break.

Zebre, who lost Ciaran Gaffney temporarily after yellow carded in the 10th minute also suffered sin-bin to Tommaso d'Apice at the start of the second half that saw Thorley (42', 55' and 75') score tries while Motu Matu'u also crossed over in the 45th minute to take Gloucester's tally to 69 points despite a 61st minute yellow card to Freddie Clarke.

Zebre finally managed to open their account in the final 10 minutes of the game with tries from Serafin Bordoli (70') and Valerio Bernabo (80'+3) but succumbed to a massive 57 point defeat.