Slade is Chief tormentor as Gloucester punished
CElEBRITy chef Tom kerridge was in the kingsholm stands as Henry slade and Exeter served up a feast of attacking rugby to keep their slim chances of a Premiership play-off place just about alive.
Rob Baxter’s Chiefs took maximum points from gloucester but they are still seventh and four points off the top four. They were far too good for a poor home side. and in England centre slade, they had a classy performer operating at a higher level than almost any other player on the field. slade sliced through the Cherry and White defence like a hot knife through butter. He was a constant attacking threat in midfield and kicked superbly from the tee.
To finish in the top four, Exeter will likely have to take all 10 points from their remaining league games against Harlequins and leicester and hope the teams above them slip up. They will again rely on slade, who is now the season’s leading Premiership points scorer and is set to sign a new one-year Exeter deal with the option of a further year.
‘We said before the game we weren’t going to talk about the play-offs,’ said Exeter director of rugby Baxter. ‘We said we want to have three games left so we can hit pre-season running.’
This was no way for gloucester to prepare for hosting Benetton in saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final. as good as some of Exeter’s attack was, george skivington’s side conceded soft tries.
There were five Chiefs tries in total as wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso joined his England colleague slade in impressing. Powerhouse forward Jacques Vermeulen, who will soon qualify for England, ended with a brace. dan John, Olly Woodburn and Feyi-Waboso finished the rout. ‘They are good players,’
Baxter said of slade and Feyi-Waboso. ‘When we give them the platform, they can show just how good they are.’
Baxter went on to describe England FeyiWaboso as ‘lethal’ and confirmed there will be an ‘update shortly’ on slade’s future. gloucester’s season has been poor and kingsholm was subdued for this one. The shed directed their anger at the officials on occasion, but should be more concerned with the paucity of their team’s league form. gloucester are capable of much better. But strangely, after winning the Premiership Rugby Cup, they could yet end 2023-24 with two trophies — with a Challenge Cup success a real possibility. They will have to improve on this performance to beat Benetton, though. gloucester remain above only winless newcastle in the league. Their tries came from Jonny May, Jack Clement and arthur Clarke but there was only ever going to be one winner and it wasn’t gloucester, who have won just seven of their last 31 league games. ‘I’m not doing that again,’ said one disgruntled gloucester fan as he left, summing up the kingsholm mood. director of rugby skivington said: ‘I’m very disappointed. I don’t think we were 100 per cent on it. We knew what was coming next week could creep into our mindset. ‘The mindset we were worried about in the week was evident. I don’t think we’ll struggle to be up for next week after that.’