Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester Rugby

Exeter Chiefs secured two important points from a frustrating afternoon at Kingsholm Stadium as Gloucester were the victors 34-31 in the Gallagher PREM round 14 meet.

The result ultimately came down to a penalty from George Barton as both sides scored five tries, one being a penalty try for the visiting men. However, the talking point at the death of the game was a 20-minute yellow card shown to Chiefs back-rower Ethan Roots.

With the whistle barely blown, Ross Vintcent snared the opening try. Working the ball up-field with precision, Paul Brown-Bampoe cantered into the opposition 22. With Vintcent on his support line, the Italian back-rower took the offload to secure the try.

An uncharacteristic miss off the tee from Henry Slade made it just the five points.

Welsh international Max Llewellyn responded with his side’s first. The powerful centre muscled his way over from close range before his fly-half, George Barton, knocked over the conversion to put the home side in the lead.

An unforeseen early change for Chiefs came after 20 minutes. Brown-Bampoe took a big collision from Ben Loader and stayed down. Thankfully, the winger was able to walk off the field of his own accord as he was replaced by Ben Hammersley.

With Chiefs trying to regather their bearings, Tomos Williams snuck through for the cherry and white’s second try of the afternoon. To the delight of the shed, he scampered over the line in their corner.

Chiefs were caught on the back foot when Loader slipped a tackle attempt from Campbell Ridl on the touchline. Wrestling his arms free, he offloaded to an onrushing Llewellyn for the Welshman to score his second. Barton’s conversion took Gloucester out to a 19-5 lead.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso immediately reigned them in, however. A charge-down from Lewis Pearson turned the tide in Chiefs’ favour before a pop-pass from Harvey Skinner on the edge of the 22 released Feyi-Waboso for one of his all-too-familiar carving runs to the line. Slade’s successful conversion brought the teams to within an unconverted try.

The last say of the half was a Gloucester one as, with seven minutes left on the clock, number eight Will Trenholm forced his large frame over for his side’s bonus-point securing try. With Barton’s conversion, the half-time board read 26-12.

Greg Fisilau stamped his name upon the opening stages of the second half. The Chiefs back-rower was the benefactor of another impressive Feyi-Waboso break after Stephen Varney released the England winger from his own half. Fisilau’s try was converted by Slade to close the gap.

The all-important penalty from Barton came just two minutes later when the number 10 took the option of going for goal from the middle of the Chiefs’ 22.

A second try for Trenholm just after the hour, though unconverted, forced the hosts further into a dominant-looking lead.

A penalty try minutes later for Exeter was met with the delighted cries of the visiting pack of forwards before the awarding of a penalty to Slade by the TMO was met by a chorus of boos on 72 minutes.

An off-day for the centre at the tee was reinforced by his inability to convert his own score as the home crowd only grew louder and rowdier as their side closed in on an important result.

The already tough day at the office was tinged with more frustration in the dying seconds of the game as the elder Roots was shown a flash of red by referee Matthew Carley.

Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter spoke post-match about ensuring his side refresh both physically and emotionally before turning their focus to a European semi-final next weekend.