Gloucester let the big scalp slip from grasp
GLOUCESTER missed a golden opportunity to show they could cut it with the big boys as their unbeaten run of four matches came to an end.
That shouldn’t have been the case as Exeter, coming into the game on the back of a dismal home performance against London Irish and weakened by international call-ups and injuries, were there for the taking, especially when Gloucester held a seven point interval lead.
The first score after the restart was vital and, not helped by a malfunctioning lineout, Gloucester couldn’t capitalise on ten minutes of sustained pressure so the visitors seized their chance to come away with a fortuitous victory.
Exeter captain, Jack Yeandle, said: “We needed that after last week’s effort when we made lots of mistakes and there was a lack of energy.
“We had our fans leaving early and we take that personally but this win has sorted us out.
“In the first half we tried to force things but we managed to fight our way through it and got the right result.”
Yeandle, with the aid of Sean Lonsdale and Don Armand, was at the forefront of Chiefs’ resilience as the visitors lacked the ball-carrying skills of Dave Ewers and Sam Simmonds to get them over the gain-line.
They still showed more enterprise than Gloucester with Ollie Devoto and Tom Hendrickson running strongly and Stuart Hogg making some key contributions in the final stages.
However, for the first 50 minutes, Gloucester held most of the aces. Ruan Ackermann and Ben Morgan drove them forward with their scrum rock solid. Their defence was formidable and they possessed a major weapon in their lineout drive to which Chiefs had no answer
Behind them, scrumwhich
half Ben Meehan ruled the roost with a well-judged display and Billy Twelvetrees was having his best game of the season as the rival centres fought tooth and nail to secure valuable ground.
From the kick-off, Ackermann knocked on to give Chiefs an early platform and they capitalised with two penalties from Skinner before he missed with an effort from inside his half.
It was then the turn of Exeter to concede penalties, three in a row, with the home side compiling a series of unstoppable lineout drives, the last of
saw Jack Singleton crash over. Adam Hastings converted and added two penalties before Exeter showed their mettle, twice being narrowly foiled.
First Hepburn was held up over the line before the combined efforts of Jason Woodward and Louis ReesZammit forced Sam Skinner into touch inches short so Gloucester led 13-6 at half-time interval.
The hosts then enjoyed a period of dominance with Ackermann and Twelvetrees fronting up a number of bursts and they should have scored but Woodward was unable to find Rees-Zammit with the
scoring pass.
Exeter made them pay by breaking out of defence through Facundo Cordero and Harvey Skinner with Alec Hepburn on hand to force his way over.
Skinner missed the conversion and a subsequent 40 metre penalty before a careless knock-on from Rees-Zammit, five metres from his own line, gave Exeter their chance.
From the resulting scrum they set up a succession of drives with Will Witty driving over. The conversion saw Skinner miss for the fourth time, which on another day could have proved costly..