Gloucester wanted to lay down marker - Lake

New Gloucester captain Dewi Lake said the side wanted to lay down a marker in their opening Prem game as they produced a dominant and shock victory away at Exeter.

The Cherry and Whites were confident winners against the Chiefs, beating the 2025-26 Prem finalists 45-24 on their own pitch for a first win at Sandy Park in 12 years.

Lake, who arrived at the club this summer from Ospreys, scored two tries and was named man of the match.

"We spoke about laying a marker down, we spoke about mindset a lot of the week, we spoke about what we wanted to do and i think we delivered that," Lake told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"The boys haven't done it in 12 years winning here, in record fashion with the scoreboard as well, but the important thing is it's not one and done for us.

"That's the standard for us every week, that's the marker we want to leave on the league."

Gloucester endured a disappointing campaign last season, losing eight of their opening nine Prem fixtures to effectively see their league challenge over before it had really begun.

They went on to finish eighth, but won just five matches and never scored over 40 points in a single Prem game.

Wales captain Lake is one of two headline player signings this summer along with compatriot, and fellow Wales skipper, Jac Morgan.

The duo were straight into Gloucester's starting XV for the trip to Exeter, along with new signings lock Jean Kleyn and wing Phil Cokanasiga and Lake said the result was evidence of how well the team is already working together.

"I feel like I've been accepted and gelled into this group extremely quickly - credit to the boys and staff for that, but this group has gelled, has really clicked very quickly," Lake added.

"Trust is earned and we started to earn that trust with each other today, we've built on it in the last couple of weeks we've been together but that's just a step for us in the right direction."

Gloucester outclassed Exeter particularly in defence, making 241 tackles to the Chiefs' 135, also winning eight turnovers to Exeter's four.

Lake said the team worked on their physicality a lot during the training week beforehand and it paid off.

"That was a big focus for us through the week, we knew physicality, collision dominance winning that first collision was going to be massive in this game," Lake said.

"We spoke a lot about trust about discipline, about trusting the guy next to you to do his job you just focus on yours and defensively you could see that.

"Nobody was chasing lost causes, everyone was just trusting the system and winning collisions and we could get back on top."