Barton beats Matkava in the battle of fly-halves. The 23-year-old was successful with five penalties, scoring all of Gloucester Rugby’s points, in a war of attrition against the EPCR competition debutants.
In a battle of the fly-halves, Black Lion’s Luka Matkava notched all 10 of the Georgian side's points - scoring the only try of the contest in addition to a penalty and a conversion from the tee.
Gloucester Rugby got on the scoreboard first as Barton kicked a pair of penalties in the 12th and 18th minutes.
Matkava then created his own scoring opportunity with a wistful dummy to break the Gloucester line and dot down under the posts. The fly-half added the extras himself as Black Lion took the lead for the first time.
The advantage lasted seven minutes, however, as Barton added his third penalty of the first half in the 29th minute.
Barton continued to showcase his kicking prowess in the second half as he added his fourth and fifth penalties. Matkava responded with a penalty of his own, but the hosts fell five points short of victory.
Black Lion continue their inaugural EPCR campaign with a trip to Scarlets next Friday, while Gloucester Rugby welcome three-time winners ASM Clermont Auvergne to Kingsholm the same night.
Scorers:
Black Lion: Try: Luka Matkava. Conversion: Luka Matkava. Penalty: Luka Matkava.
Gloucester: Penalties: George Barton (5).
Black Lion: 15 Luka Tsirekidze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Tengiz Peranidze, 8 Ilia Spanderashvili, 7 Sandro Mamamtavrishvili, 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 5 Mikheil Babunashvili, 4 Nodar Cheishvili, 3 Giorgi Chkhartishvili, 2 Irakli Kvatadze, 1 Dato Abdushelishvili. Replacements: 16 Beka Mamrikashvili, 17 Aliko Shamilishvili, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Demuri Epremidze, 20 Giorgi Kervalishvili, 21 Giorgi Margalitadze, 22 Tornike Kakhoidze, 23 Miriani Modebadze.
Gloucester: 15 Jacob Morris, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Louis Hillman-Cooper, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Barton, 9 Michael Young, 8 Ben Donnell, 7 Harry Taylor, 6 Freddie Thomas, 5 Cameron Jordan, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson. Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Arthur Clark, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Josh Hathaway.
