Match Report: Gloucester 7 – 31 Exeter Chiefs
A confident performance across the park, in defence and attack saw Exeter Chiefs hold Gloucester scoreless for an hour on their way to a five-try bonus point victory in Round Three of the Premiership Cup.
A nicely aimed kick to touch from Josh Hodge and a mistake from Ollie Thorley in his attempted gather put Chiefs deep into Gloucester territory early on. Working patiently with an advantage in hand, Chiefs went for a characteristic tap-and-go and with the second carry, the big man Rusi Tuima crossed for the opening try.
On the Shed’s side of the field, Hodge began his evening at the kicking tee cleanly for the conversion.
There was a sniff of a possible second on 10 minutes as the Chiefs maul barrelled towards the line but desperate Gloucester bodies thrown underneath the muscle of the Exeter pack was enough to hold up the ball for a goal-line drop-out from the home side.
Two minutes later, Ben Hammersley ensured there was a second score as the young winger carved his way through the cherry and white line. A dominant carry from Greg Fisilau broke the gain-line before a nicely timed pop pass from Will Haydon-Wood released the winger for a run-in. The ball rebounded off the right upright but crossed the bar for the conversion from Hodge.
Gloucester thought they had scored their first points through fan-favourite Thorley when an overlap in the Chiefs 22 allowed them to put a long spiral pass out to the wing. However, just as the game was about to restart following the missed conversion, the TMO came in to confirm there had been a knock-on so play would return to the 22 with the try chalked off.
Chiefs then went from defending their own line to the Gloucester whitewash in less than a minute. Rusi Tuima ripped the ball just shy of his five metre line and the Chiefs took off running. A couple of breakdowns on the halfway gave territory before the ball was fed to Will Rigg on the Gloucester 10m line. He had Hammersley outside him, but the support line wasn’t needed as the centre barged his way through an attempted tackle from Thorley to run a clean line to score.
Another conversion from Hodge put the Chiefs past 20 points in just over as many minutes.
The full back soon took it upon himself to secure the bonus point score before a half hour was played. Pure class from Hodge saw him carry from his own 22, dummying defenders and - after an interchange of passes with Townsend - he leaped over for the try.
With the bit between their teeth, Chiefs quickly had a fifth. A lineout just outside the Gloucester 22 was taken cleanly in the air by Richard Capstick. His hooker Dan Frost held it at the back of the maul before breaking off to the shortside with Townsend in support. With a pop of a pass, the scrum half was sent in for the try.
Half-time: Gloucester 0 – 31 Chiefs
There will likely have been some stern words in the Gloucester changing rooms as they emerged for the second half with a greater intensity than they had left the pitch with. Despite the intent of the home side, the Chiefs withstood the onslaught until an hour played showed on the gameday clock.
Gloucester found themselves deep into Chiefs territory and after a yellow card to Rusi Tuima for repeated infringements, they went over with a tap-and-go score underneath the posts. Rory Taylor added the easy conversion to give Val Rapava-Ruskin’s try the full contingent of points.
Throughout the remainder of a scrappy second half, Chiefs' defence held staunch until the bitter end – even seeing off a 79th minute TMO check of try or not try for the hosts.
Ultimately, a striking performance in open play from the Chiefs backline and intense strength from the pack at the set piece and breakdown ensured that Rob Baxter's Chiefs were looking to put their best foot forward with a return to Gallagher Premiership action just around the corner.
The result at Kingsholm puts Chiefs in good contention for the second block of cup games having taken three bonus point wins from the first three rounds.
Full-time: Gloucester 7 – 31 Chiefs
Gloucester: I Jones (Reeves 35’); C Wade, C Harris, R Taylor, O Thorley; C Atkinson (Knight 75’), C Englefield (Chapman 60’); M Vivas (Rapava-Ruskin 40’), S Blake (Singleton 50’), C Knight (Fasogbon 49’), F Clarke (Clark 50’), D Elite, R Ackermann (Clement 60’), L Ludlow (c), Z Mercer.
Tries: Rapava-Ruskin Conversions: Taylor
Chiefs: J Hodge; B Hammersley (Wimbush 60’), T Tua (Skinner 69’), W Rigg, T Wyatt; W Haydon-Wood, S Townsend (Becconsall 65’); S Sio (Goodrick-Clarke 53’), D Frost (Innard 57’), M Street (J Roots 53’), R Tuima, R Capstick, E Roots, J Vermeulen (c) (Pearson 66’), G Fisilau (Moloney 74’).
Tries: Tuima, Hammersley, Rigg, Hodge, Townsend Conversions: Hodge 3
Yellow card: Rusi Tuima
Referee: Joe James