Exeter Chiefs up to third with Gloucester win

Henry Slade contributed 22 of Exeter's 39 points during the win over Gloucester

The Prem

Exeter (27) 39

Tries: Dweba, Slade (2), Feyi-Waboso, Yeandle Cons: Slade (3), Hodge Pens: Slade (2)

Gloucester (12) 12

Tries: Joseph, Thomas Cons: Byrne

Exeter Chiefs moved up to third in the Prem table with a confident 39-12 victory over the still winless Gloucester at Sandy Park.

In a frantic first half, Joseph Dweba touched down for the home side before Will Joseph's stunning end-to-end effort brought Gloucester level.

Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso's efforts put the Chiefs on top again before Freddie Thomas restored hope for the visitors.

But it was Rob Baxter's men who proved the more composed in the second half, adding further tries through Slade and Jack Yeandle to claim a bonus point.

With no points to take back up the M5, Gloucester remain in ninth place.

The Chiefs were looking to build on their dominant victory against Harlequins last weekend and were clearly intent on replicating that form from the first whistle.

Having won a penalty on Gloucester's scrum, Slade forced the visitors back into their own 22 with a touch kick.

Having secured the line-out, it was Dweba who ultimately benefitted, emerging with the ball at the back of the maul for the first try of the day.

But that lead was not to last for long.

With seemingly nothing on, academy star Jack Cotgreave broke around the outside of the Exeter defence before side-stepping a surprisingly flat-footed Feyi-Waboso.

On the verge of being tackled, he fed Williams, who then off-loaded to Joseph to outpace the final defender for an early try-of-the-season contender.

With neither team seemingly too concerned about defending, the Chiefs were soon in for their second.

Following a cross-field kick from Harvey Skinner, the ball was recycled, ultimately ending up in the hands of Slade who had only to dive over the line amid scrambling Gloucester defenders.

Feyi-Waboso then got in on the act, the England winger capitalising from a well-worked Chiefs set play, sidestepping two defenders before fighting his way over for the home team's third.

Gloucester, still missing 11 men due to their extensive injury list, responded in seemingly the only way they know how.

Following an intricate series of offloads on the far wing, the ball made its way to Cotgreave who fought his way to the line, only to be bear tackled by Feyi-Waboso.

With Chiefs defenders retreating, it then only took a pinpoint pass from Williams to send Thomas over.

The Chiefs, sensing blood, thought they had their fourth on the verge of half-time, but Josh Iosefa-Scott's close-range effort was ruled out for an earlier forward pass.

Will Joseph's acrobatic first-half effort proved in vain as Gloucester remain in search of their first victory of the season

Calm after storm

The second half, by comparison, was rather prosaic.

Playing under a rainbow, Gloucester simply could not find their way over the line, coughing up possession in several promising situations.

Exeter had their moments in the third quarter, with Stephen Varney one grubber kick away from potentially scoring, but defences were on top having been found so sorely lacking in the first half.

The deadlock was eventually broken and it was only fitting that the moment belonged to Slade.

The centre recovered a pinpoint cross-field kick from Josh Hodge, kicked ahead and fought off George Barton for the bonus-point score.

Yeandle then added a deserved fifth try at the death, having been denied by the television match official (TMO) moments earlier.

Exeter Chiefs attack coach Dave Walder spoke to BBC Radio Devon:

"It's the end of a really positive block – to get three wins in the first block of five (matches) is really important and after the high of last week against Harlequins it was important that we were mentally in the right place.

"I thought we started the game brilliantly, we switched off a little bit but ultimately did really well to come back and to keep them to 12 points is a testament to how we defended.

"We did our work early in attack and got a bonus point, which was nice. If we defend like we did today, we'll be very competitive through the season."

Gloucester head coach George Skivington spoke to BBC Radio Gloucester:

"We've had different line ups every single week these first five games. People playing out of position. Even today, James Venter, Will Joseph having to come off - nothing's gone to plan frankly.

"This break has come at a good time – hopefully we get some bodies, a bit of recovery done.

"We played some really exciting rugby last year and we're digging in and trying to play that exciting brand of rugby, but there are too many guys who aren't in tune with the system."

Exeter: Hodge; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Ikitau, Woodburn; Skinner, Varney; Sio, Dweba, Iosefa-Scott, Jenkins (c), Tuima, Hooper, Roots, Fisilau.

Replacements: Yeandle, Burger, Tchumbadze, Zambonin, James, Chapman, Haydon-Wood, Hammersley.

Gloucester: C Atkinson; Redshaw, Joseph, Llewellyn, Cotgreave; Byrne, Williams (c); Knight, Blake, Laulala, Thomas, Alemanno, Basham, Venter, Bokenham.

Replacements: Innard, Bleuler, Fasogbon, Jordan, Mann, Englefield, Barton, Knight.

Referee: Adam Leal.