By TOM JEFFREYS
Gloucester…………………………………………..17
Tries: May 29, Clement 40, Clark 50
Conversions: Atkinson 52
Exeter Chiefs……………………………………….38
Tries: Vermeulen 14, 60; John 18, Woodburn 36, Feyi-Waboso 48
Conversions: Slade, 15, 19, 38, 49, 61
Penalties: Slade 6
Exeter kept their play-off hopes alive with a clinical victory away to Gloucester, bringing themselves within four points of fourth place with two games to go.
Inspired by talismanic performance by Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Chiefs exhibited the free flowing build-up play and pragmatic red zone attack that has underscored their play off push, scoring five tries amidst a turbulent Gloucester display.
Very rarely does the Gloucester home crowd get lulled into a hush, but every time Feyi-Waboso lurked near the ball, on both sides of possession, the English interests in the crowd couldn’t help but take notice.
The damage had been done in the first half, with tries from Jacques Vermeulen, Dan John, and Olly Woodburn being pegged back by two unconverted efforts against the grain from Jonny May and Jack Clement.
Gloucester seemed to have their tails up following an opportunistic end to the first half, but chances were left begging amidst an Arthur Clark chargedown effort, with Exeter punishing the home side with scores from Feyi-Waboso and Vermeulen before the game spluttered into an anti-climactic close.
The Chiefs, inspired by Feyi-Waboso’s powerful interventions both sides of the ball, registered their first points through Henry Stade’s boot, before a rare Gloucester red-zone entry following a Charlie Atkinson 50/22 gave Max Llewelyn a chance, only for the ball to be spilled over the line thanks to a crucial Olly Woodburn hand.
However, Exeter soon settled into their ruthless cycle of five-metre lineout, penalty, tap and go, and score, with Vermeulen employing Jack Dunne’s weight to bundle over the line.
Gloucester’s woes were compounded just three minutes later when, shortly after a Feyi-Waboso kick-off return carry to his own ten-metre line, an Ollie Thorley line-break was pulled back for a forward pass.
The consequent scrum gave Slade a scrum platform to glide effortlessly through the line around halfway, and after he found Harvey Skinner the fly-half offloaded off the deck to full-back John, who gleefully dived over for his first ever senior try in just his ninth Premiership appearance.
John’s try, the product of an ambitious set-piece and slick offloading, seemed to liberate Chiefs who began working into the Gloucester 22 with ease, but the Cherry and Whites showed resilience to repel the close range attack that Chiefs have become known for.
With the scoreline therefore still reasonable, they worked into Exeter’s 22 for just the second time in the half and made the most of a fortuitous bounce from a failed Woodburn intercept attempt to score through Jonny May in the corner.
Woodburn would make amends through a well-deserved try shortly after Feyi-Waboso had the ball dislodged over the line, as the left winger making the most of another Slade line break to finish well in the corner.
The ensuing period then proved extremely frustrating for Rob Baxter’s men. Tasked with closing the half out 24-5 up, Cairns was charged down at the base and with the territory presented to them, Gloucester scored when Jack Clement sauntered through a hole untouched.
The home side carried their momentum into the second half, and were twice denied try scoring opportunities when an offload failed to find Clement before Jake Morris was bundled into touch by Woodburn and Hawkins as he dived for the line.
A try from Feyi-Waboso – a walk in from a five metre scrum move – proved to be a frustrating interjection between continued assaults on the Chiefs line. Clark responded to the score with a charge down for his side’s third, before Chris Harris emerged from a maul to release Varney, the scrum-half tackled painfully short from a covering Skinner.
With their backs against the wall, Chiefs turned to their big names as Slade made the most of robust goal-line defence to kick his side into Gloucester territory, before Vermuelen once again crashed over from close range – the try a product of a lovely Skinner crossfield kick to Hawkins.
With the benches unloading the game’s flow faltered, and slowly fizzled as an effective metaphor for Gloucester’s Premiership season. Exeter’s bench, boasting high profile stars such as Christ Tschiunza and Ross Vintcent, muted Gloucester attempts at incision and poor execution around the half way mark painfully eroded any sign of momentum heading into their season-defining semi final vs Benetton next week.
GLOUCESTER: Morris, May, Harris, Llewellyn, Thorley, C. Atkinson, Varney; Ford-Robinson, Blake, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Clark, Ackermann, Clement, Mercer (c).
Replacements: Socino, Vivas, Knight, Thomas, Ludlow, Chapman, Englefield, Hillman-Cooper.
EXETER CHIEFS: John, Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Hawkins, Woodburn, H. Skinner, Cairns; Sio, Yeandle, Street, Dunne, Jenkins (c), Roots, Vermeulen, Fisilau.
Replacements: Norey, Southworth, Painter, Tshiunza, Vintcent, Armstrong, Haydon-Wood, Wimbush.
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