Leicester beat Bath and hope Toby Flood will face Gloucester

The aptly named Toby Flood emerged from a first-half downpour to row Leicester to victory and the Tigers hope the England fly-half, who has played only two matches since suffering a knee injury on the opening weekend of the season, will be released to play for them at Gloucester on Saturday. Leicester have yet to win an away match in the Premiership this season while Gloucester have a 100% record at Kingsholm. The Tigers' director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, who will be without his reserve No10, Jeremy Staunton, for the next month, has asked for Flood to be made available. Flood joined up with the England squad last night and Cockerill said: "We will have a discussion with England about Floody playing at Gloucester. He has only had two games and a bit in two months, which is not ideal before facing the All Blacks [on November 6] in terms of body hardness, and we would like him to be made available. Martin Johnson [the England team manager] has a lot of common sense and we will respect his decision." Flood, whose six penalties and second-minute drop goal were enough to sink Bath here, declared that he was ready to play at Gloucester. "It was good to get another run-out and I don't feel I need a weekend off because I have already had six this season," he said. "I do not feel I need the game ahead of New Zealand but I was not totally happy with the way it went against Bath and it would be a chance to put things right." Lewis Moody, who has been England's captain for the past three Tests, will play for Bath at Harlequins on Sunday in order to prove his fitness for the New Zealand match, one month after suffering an eye injury during a home defeat by Gloucester. He, like Johnson, was at Leicester on Saturday, staying in the city overnight for a reunion with his former team-mates. "I expect Lewis to be playing at Harlequins," the Bath head coach, Steve Meehan, said. "I have had that confirmation from England." It will depend on whether Moody has fully recovered. "I am being cautious," the flanker said. "Every day is a step in the right direction. I had virtually no vision out of my left eye after the [Gloucester] game and, while it is not completely back, it is pretty clear." While Bath, who have lost three of their last four Premiership matches, missed Moody, their forwards stood up to Leicester and belied the notion that they are a side that can be bullied. They were shoved off their own ball at one scrum, but otherwise they achieved no worse than parity in the set pieces and they won a number of penalties at the breakdown through the tenacity of Luke Watson, their openside flanker and captain. Bath may have stood up but they struggled to run. Sam Vesty had an uncomfortable return to his former club at fly-half and they only threatened through Nick Abendanon on the few occasions when he had to counter attack from full-back. They pressed for victory at the end, having rallied from 18-6 down after 50 minutes, without looking like scoring a try. They at least prevented Leicester from scoring a try, as they did in their play-off defeat semi-final last May. The last team other than Bath to achieve that here was Newcastle, 13 months ago. The Tigers, despite maintaining a bold approach in the conditions, never put sustained pressure on the Bath line. "Perhaps we played a bit too much rugby but that is in our DNA," said Flood, who revealed that he is ready to sign a new contract with the Tigers. "I feel comfortable here," he said. "It takes you a while to get used to the culture, which is ruthless in terms of expectations, but it is a good place to be." Leicester Tigers Murphy (capt); Hamilton, Smith, Allen, A Tuilagi; Flood, Youngs; Stankovich (Ayerza, 5), Chuter, Cole (Castrogiovanni, 56), Slater, Skivington, Croft, Newby (Woods, 78), Waldrom. Pens Flood 6 Drop goal Flood. Bath Abendanon; Carraro, Hape, Barkley, Banahan; Vesty, Claassens (McMillan, 70); Flatman (Catt, 69), Dixon, Bell, Hooper, Fernandez-Lobbe (Skirving, 76), Beattie, Watson (capt), Taylor. Pens Barkley 5. Referee A Small (London) Attendance 21,194.