» Skivington staying upbeat despite defeat at Exeter,
GLOUCESTER head coach George Skivington says Gloucester are heading in the right direction despite Boxing Day’s 28-20 loss to Premiership leaders Exeter Chiefs.
Gloucester headed down the M5 sensing an opportunity for an upset, and played with a physical intensity to back it up for much of the game.
In the end a couple of missed kicks from Lloyd Evans, who once again impressed in his open field play, meant the Cherry and Whites were left ‘gutted’ not to come away with at least a losing bonus point.
The story of Exeter’s 2020/21 season has been one of complete domination, with the Devon side securing bonus point wins from all four of their previous ties.
But a Covid-19 outbreak, which saw double figures of Chiefs players and staff contract the virus and forced them to forfeit a game in Europe, shut down the training ground and for much of the squad to isolate meant the matchday 23 which took the field on Boxing Day had not trained together in several weeks.
But that did not stop them making it another bonus point win to stay top of the league heading in to the New Year.
Skivington watched his side dominate the opening first half-hour only to fall away when Exeter began to find their feet, but he said: “It is a step in the right direction and I feel very good with where we are going.
“It is a tight knit group in there and the fact they are all absolutely gutted about that game says a lot because it would be very easy to walk away from losing at Exeter away and say it is what it is, but the boys are not like that at all and they are absolutely gutted which is a positive step.
“Exeter are seriously good at dealing with the ebbs and flows of a game and were always going to come back into it.
“They will always have a patch where you’ve got to live with it. We tried but let in a couple of tries just after half-time and didn’t live with them then. We fought our way back in but it wasn’t enough.”
A lively crowd of 2,000 fans also saw Jonny Gray and Ollie Devoto cross either side of the interval as Exeter established a clear lead at the summit of the Premiership.
Gloucester’s finest moments were inspired by replacement scrum-half Toby Venner, whose league debut in the second half brought with it urgency in attack, but they also dominated the start.
Early celebrations at their maul driving over the whitewash were muted when it was decided they had been held up over the line, but the pressure continued and Lloyd Evans was able to land a penalty.
Exeter spent most of the opening quarter in their own half as they weathered an audacious onslaught that almost produced a try for hooker Jack Singleton as he galloped on to Evans’ crossfield kick only to be stopped short of the whitewash.
A high error count and poor decision-making contributed to the Chiefs’ difficult start, but Gloucester were also
It is a tight knit group in there and the fact they are all absolutely gutted about that game says a lot Gloucester head coach George Skivington
magnificent as they continued to press with a forward-led assault.
Eventually Exeter escaped their half, however, and - having opted for touch instead of goal - they spent a sustained spell probing the visitors’ line with Luke Cowan-dickie their hardestworking carrier.
Gloucester defended manfully but when they poured around the edges of one ruck, once Gray had picked up the ball, they failed to knock over the Scotland lock and with a big hole in front of him, he powered over.
Evans kicked his second penalty to narrow Exeter’s half-time lead to 7-6 but the double winners emerged from the break with more purpose and they were immediately on to the front foot with Joe Simmonds just knocking on as he slid over the line.
Simmonds was the provider when the Chiefs did engineer their second try shortly after, his sharp pass to Devoto exposing out-of-position centre Chris Harris for a simple run in.
Gloucester’s resistance was clearly crumbling as they accommodated an easy third and Exeter will have scored few simpler mauling tries as their lineout drive met little opposition before Sam Simmonds touched down for the seventh time this season.
Stung into action, the visitors hit back with a purple patch inspired by Venner.
One jet heeled run down the touchline left the Chiefs for dead and later in the same spell, he was in support to finish a try that was created by Mark
Atkinson’s clever pass in midfield.
Any doubt over the outcome was quickly extinguished, however, as Sam Simmonds drove over from close range.
The exuberant Venner claimed his second with another predatory finish but there was a gasp of disbelief when Evans missed a simple last-gasp penalty that would have secured a losing bonus point.
With the final play of the game, Evans had his chance, but having missed a drop goal during the penalty advantage moments earlier, he then pushed a kick across the face of goal to leave his side with nothing to show from a bruising encounter.