Wasteful Gloucester get there in the end
DON’T be fooled by the scoreline. Gloucester should have beaten the league leaders by a country mile, such was their domination of possession and territory.
However they squandered four gilt-edged try-scoring opportunities and missed two straightforward penalties so it was a travesty that they had to wait so long to score the match-winner before hanging on grimly in the dying stages.
Gloucester captain, Willi Heinz said: “We were overeager and overplayed our hand but were more patient after the interval. It would have been gutting not to win as we played the majority of the game in their half.”
After five consecutive defeats, Gloucester were rejuvenated, being the better side in all areas as a strangely lethargic Exeter couldn’t match the aggression of the home pack in which Franco Mostert had a stormer with strong support from Ben Morgan and Fraser Balmain.
Willi Heinz and Danny Cipriani gave polished performances but it was Ollie Thorley, who celebrated his call-up to the national training squad, by providing most of the thrills.
He gave Argentinian international, Santiago Cordero, no end of problems with his explosive pace and elusive running.
Heinz said: “Ollie is magnificent; you can see our players’ faces light up when he gets the ball as he can do virtually anything.”
In contrast, Exeter struggled to get over the gain-line because, in the absence of Henry Slade, only Cordero had any idea of getting past an opponent.
Gloucester began strongly but Exeter scored from their only excursion into opposition territory in the first half when Nic White darted over from close range.
Billy Twelvetrees kicked a penalty before Gloucester dominated the remainder of the half, in which they could manage only one try when they should have had three or four.
First Cipriani’s kick and chase saw him forced into touch 15 metres out before Jason Woodward knocked on when he had an unopposed run to the line.
Then Ruan Ackermann burst away from a maul but the flanker delayed his pass to Mostert and another chance was lost.
A try had to come and it did when a well-judged cross-field kick from Cipriani was superbly collected by Thorley, whose inside pass gave Woodward the chance to race over.
Just before half-time another opportunity went begging when Franco Marais knocked on with the line at his mercy, so Exeter were mightily relieved they trailed only 10-7 at the interval.
Simmonds kicked a penalty to bring the scores level but the hosts were back in front when, following a driving line-out and a period of sustained pressure, Heinz crashed over.
Another flowing move saw Thorley narrowly denied before Exeter rang the changes with Gareth Steenson coming on to provide a well-timed pass for Matt Kvesic to burst through and send Tom O’Flaherty over.
Gloucester looked to have blown it when Twelvetrees was off-target with two angled 35 metre penalty attempts but more creative running from Thorley set up the winning try for Morgan, which was allowed to stand despite Chiefs’ protests that O’Flaherty had been blocked from making a tackle.