Hepher praises Exeter's efforts

By Mark Stevens

It was never going to be pretty, particularly given the near apocalyptic conditions on show at Sandy Park, but Ali Hepher was quick to praise the battling qualities of his Exeter Chiefs following their 19-10 home win over Gloucester.

Free-scoring No.8 Thomas Waldrom barrelled over twice in the space of four first half minutes and, allied to a further first-half try through winger Olly Woodburn, the Chiefs were more or less out of sight by half-time.

Gloucester, the last victors at Sandy Park on January 3, 2015, got off the mark through a Greig Laidlaw penalty in the 45th minute and snatched a glimmer of hope when Charlie Sharples crossed ten minutes before full-time.

However, the second-placed Chiefs happily saw out the remainder of the game to record their seventh Aviva Premiership Rugby win of the season and maintain their pursuit of leaders Saracens, who themselves came unstuck for the first time this season away to Harlequins.

The only down side for the Chiefs was the sight of England star Jack Nowell limping out of the action late on with what looked a nasty knee injury.

The 22-year-old Cornishman was visibly in pain (pictured) and received treatment to his left knee before departing eight minutes from time to be replaced by Michele Campagnaro.

Given Exe's already-extensive injury list – Henry Slade, Dave Ewers, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Damian Welch and Mitch Lees are all set for a spell on the sidelines – losing Nowell for any length of time could be disastrous.

Speaking after the game, backs coach Hepher said more would become clear early next week.

"He had a bit of a twist with his knee. It is a bit early to say exactly what has happened," said Hepher. "He got twisted between two bodies and had to come off, so we will just wait and see. It is just going to be a matter of time.

"You just don't know with these knee injuries. Sometimes the least painful ones can be the longest out. We'll get it assessed, manage him for the moment and then assess it again during the week."

Injuries aside, Hepher preferred to reflect more on the performance of the Chiefs against the visiting Cherry & Whites.

"At the start of the day, we would have taken the four points," added Hepher. "To not concede the losing bonus point was obviously important as well.

"It was one of those days where we were just going to have to battle through it. We had some good intent to battle away, got our tries off our defensive work and it was one of those days when not having the ball was the best option.

"I thought we played pretty well with the conditions. We would have liked to have got hold of the game a bit more with our maul in the second half but all in all I was really pleased."