Gloucester U18s 41 Chiefs U18s 33

Gloucester U18s 41

Exeter Chiefs U18s 33

Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs Under-18s coach Marek Churcher admitted he and his team were left “disappointed” after they slipped to defeat against rivals Gloucester in their latest Premiership Under-18s League fixture at Dean Close School.

Having kicked off their season with an impressive home win over London Irish, the Chiefs could not replicate the same outcome against the Cherry & Whites, who made it three wins for three with this 41-33 success.

Gloucester stormed into a 15-0 lead inside as many minutes, claiming tries through Jake Morris and Ewan Fenley, one of which was converted by George Barton, who also added a penalty.

The Chiefs, though, replied with a converted score of their own through Richard Capstick, only for Jack Reeves to add a third try, again converted by Barton, to put Gloucester in front at 22-7.

As the first half ticked by, so the teams started to find some parity and by the break both had added further scores with Flynn Edworthy scoring twice for the visitors, one of which was converted by James Tucker, while Jack Bartlett claimed the bonus point score for the hosts to give them a 29-19 lead at the break.

The second half proved just as competitive with the Chiefs striking first through Capstick again. However, back came Gloucester with a second score for the game for winger Morris.

Edworthy, who was the stand-out figure for the Chiefs, grabbed his hat-trick try just past the hour mark, again converted by Tucker, but the last word was left to the home side who claimed a late converted score through Alex Hunt.

Post-game, Churcher said: “Obviously we’re disappointed with the end result, but we couldn’t fault the effort of the boys, especially when we went behind so early in the game!

“If we’re honest, the result could of gone either way, but we made a few more errors than Gloucester. What they were good at was that they made us pay for those errors and that’s something we need to learn from moving forward.

“The game itself was exceptional and both teams have to take huge credit for their efforts. Now, we have to regroup and get ready for our next game against Bristol on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the boys react this week, they will have learnt a lot from this game, and we will certainly be better players from the experience at the weekend.”

Gloucester: R Dunn; A Morgan, J Reeves, I Marsh (T Stanton 44), J Morris; G Barton, E Fenley; S O’Malley (A Hunt 62), B Stretch (E Hunt h/t), J Bartlett (O Adkins 65); A Tarbuck, J Howard; J Holliday (J Gray 46), B Watts, J Clement (J Holliday 69).

Tries - Morris (2), Fenley, Reeves, Bartlett, Hunt; Conversions - Barton (4); Penalty - Barton

Chiefs: J Tucker (D Lilley 63); A Hill, L Flack (F Scardamaglia 60), R Weeks, K Atkinson; O Toomey, S Maunder; A Petch, W Ridout (H Dunn 60), H Trudgill (O Andrews 60); L Pearson (J Paker-Cooke h/t), C Teague; F Elworthy, R Capstick, R Tuima.

Tries - Elworthy (3), Capstick (2); Conversions - Tucker (4)

Referee: Z Bell