Ben Morgan: Three tries in cup win

Released from the England squad to face Australia earlier in the week, ahead of the Twickenham showdown that the Wallabies won, number eight Morgan was back on club duty and played a key role in the crushing 46-20 LV= Cup victory at Kingsholm.

Morgan said: "It was my first professional hat-trick. It was a real physical test for us and they competed right to the end scoring some late tries.

"It shows the strength in depth of our squad. In previous performances there have been dips in our game: we were better today but there's still a long way to go."

Gloucester led 34-6 at the interval before their play became a touch careless and London Welsh were able to cut into their advantage.

Assistant coach Carl Hogg said of Gloucester's display: "It was an outstanding performance. Our kicking game was very sound and we were very accurate with our execution.

"In the second half we could have been more ruthless and clinical but I would rather take the positives from the performance."

Of the returning international squad members, Hogg said: "I'm delighted for Ben Morgan. He and the others showed great professionalism to come back from their international environment to play a club game today."

London Welsh coach Lyn Jones said: "I was delighted with our second-half performance but I was disappointed with certain aspects of our game. Our set-piece and lineout weren't accurate enough but at 10-6 at the end of the first quarter I thought we were right in it.

"However we then went through a bad series and the Gloucester side kicked on as they are very confident at the moment but we did well to come back and show some fight."

Considering the merits of the competition itself, Jones added: "It's beneficial to us as we get more at ease with the standard that we are required to play, because a lot of our players have just played in the Championship."