Cipriani exposed as Exeter romp to victory

Exeter Chiefs made light of their seven missing internationals to see off a stern challenge from in-form Gloucester and make it eight Premiership wins out of eight.

The visitors had more of the territory and possession against the leaders, but they foundered on statistically the best defence in the league, with only 13 tries conceded this season.

It was also a bad day at the office for England fly-half Danny Cipriani, who was replaced after only 51 minutes in his side’s 23-6 defeat.

He slotted two first-half penalties for a 6-0 advantage, but was wayward with some of his tactical kicking. Cipriani also telegraphed a pass that led to British and Irish Lions winger Alex Cuthbert’s 75-metre interception try early in the second period that put the Chiefs 11 points clear and left Gloucester with a mountain to climb.

The other key moment of a tight contest came six minutes before the break when Exeter conjured up one of the tries of the weekend.

Gareth Steenson delivered a pinpoint crossfield kick into the arms of onrushing Argentine international winger Santiago Cordero, who breezed past a defender before feeding Nic White on his shoulder to slide over beside the posts, leaving Steenson the easy extras for a 10-6 half-time lead.

The Irishman also converted Cuthbert’s try and added three more penalties as the Chiefs satisfied themselves with a victory without a bonus point. “You take any kind of win against Gloucester, they have been in great form, and with a few internationals away, it was really pleasing how strongly we came through that game,” said Exeter head coach Ali Hepher. Dai Young, meanwhile, hopes

have put their struggles behind them after a stirring 32-28 victory against A bonus-point triumph over the Bears, chiefly due to two tries on Premiership debut from winger Ross Neal, arrested a run of seven games without a win in all competitions.

Young said: “Hopefully this is a springboard to get back to what we know we’re capable of, because there were real signs of that. We were really pleased with the first half, we played some quality rugby and we were pretty controlled. It was a really strong performance for 55 minutes but then we lost momentum and ran out of legs in the second half. One or two calls went against us but there were mistakes made.”

At the AJ Bell Stadium, Denny Solomona touched down twice as moved off the bottom of the table with a deserved 18-13 triumph over