Gloucester edge past play-off chasing Chiefs

The Prem

Gloucester (26) 34

Tries: Llewellyn 2, Williams, Trenholm 2 Cons: Barton 3 Pens: Barton

Exeter (12) 31

Tries: Vintcent, Feyi-Waboso, Fisilau, Penalty, Slade Cons: Slade 2

Gloucester delivered their best league performance in months, surviving a second-half comeback from play-off chasing Exeter Chiefs to triumph 34-31 at Kingsholm.

After conceding Ross Vintcent's early try, the home side had the better of a frantic first-half in which they gained a try bonus point with scores from Tomos Williams, Will Trenholm and two from Max Llewellyn.

Efforts either side of half-time from Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Greg Fisilau gave the Chiefs hope and having conceding a second to Trenholm, the visitors seized control of the game adding a penalty try and a score from Henry Slade to close the scoreboard to three points to set up a thrilling finale.

But with the clock in the red and the Chiefs attacking, flanker Ethan Roots was given a 20-minute red carded for striking a Gloucester tackler in the face and Williams kicked the ball into touch to secure a deserved win.

Despite gaining two bonus points and moving up to fourth, the loss is a blow to the Chiefs' play-off ambitions, with Baxter's men now just a point ahead of Bristol and still to play fellow contenders Bath and Leicester Tigers in the coming weeks.

The Chiefs, who came into the game knowing that a big win could see them jump both Bristol and Leicester into third, started strongly.

Stephen Varney's up and under was regathered by Greg Fisilau, with Paul Brown-Bampoe accelerating down the wing before offloading to Vintcent to jog over untouched.

That lead was not to last for long. Following strong running by Ben Loader, Gloucester moved up into the Chiefs' 22 before Williams found Llewellyn, who stepped back inside to force his way over.

The ever-present Williams then got his name on the teamsheet. With Gloucester's latest attacking move looking to have run out of momentum, the scrum-half exploited a small gap around the ruck to dart over to extend the home side's lead.

Things got even better for Gloucester soon after, when Loader managed to fight his way through two tackles on the wing before producing a perfect offload to Llewellyn who evaded Fisilau to score his second and make it 19-5.

With the game being played at a rapid pace, Exeter responded quickly through Feyi-Waboso; the winger cutting back inside to score past the despairing George Barton following strong carrying from Harvey Skinner.

But with neither defence able to gain a foothold and Gloucester restored their advantage soon after through Trenholm, who powered over from short range, taking two Exeter tacklers over the line with him.

The Chiefs needed an injection of purpose and found it minutes after the restart, with Feyi-Waboso the beneficiary of a Varney offload which deflected backwards off a Gloucester hand.

The winger was hauled down short of the line by Barton, but in the next phase Slade found Fisilau who strolled over as Gloucester ran out of defenders.

The game broke up as the free-running rugby of the first-half gave way to a defensive stalemate before Gloucester eventually found the whitewash again; Trenholm emerging from a pile of bodies after an expertly executed line-out drive.

With the game on the line, Exeter threw caution to the wind and scored two tries back to back.

First they were awarded a penalty try by referee Matthew Carley, after Dian Bleuler was sin-binned for coming in at the side of the driving maul and minutes later Slade was adjudged to have grounded the ball after slipping through through a series of poor Gloucester tackles.

But with the final play of the game, Roots was upended in the tackle before lashing out which resulted in a penalty for Gloucester, who move up the table into the Champions Cup places in eighth.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"The boys just wanted to put it out there today for the supporters. We've got a couple of home games left and we want everyone who turns up [to get] the team that we thought we were going to be this year.

"If we'd done that a little bit more this year things would've been better.

"The way the set piece moved forward reflects where the squad is at. I thought the forwards worked extremely hard to get us on the front foot. Will Trenholm gave us that spark we needed.

"We haven't seen a lot of Ben Loader this season, we signed him for that moments like he had today and we want to see more of that.

"There were some lads who really put in today. I thought the boys stayed on task well and I was really pleased with the back end, we were down a man but stayed on track."

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

"We've shown good character. We won the second half and ended up with two points, battled our way through some difficult scenarios to maintain those two points - which ultimately could be crucial - but at the same time I am disappointed with how we turned up today.

"I said to them [the players] at half-time, I think a few of you took it for granted that we would turn up emotionally today, because you don't miss that many tackles, give up that many metres, have that poor a set piece, concede that many soft tries if you are genuinely emotionally ready.

"Gloucester turned up today, we didn't. Physically in the first half they were better than we were, I am frustrated by how things unravelled around that lack of emotional preparedness for the game."

Gloucester: Barton; Joseph, Llewellyn, S Atkinson, Loader; C Atkinson, Williams (c); Rapava Ruskin, Innard, Fasogbon; Clark, Alemanno, Thomas, Ludlow, Trenholm.

Replacements: Knowles, Bleuler, Laulala, Eite, Clement, Venter, Englefield, Thorley.

Sin bin: Bleuler (69)

Exeter: Ridl; Brown-Bampoe, Slade (c), Ikitau, Feyi-Waboso; Skinner, Varney; Goodrick-Clarke, Dweba, Iosefa-Scott; Tuima, Pearson, E Roots, Vintcent, Fisilau.

Replacements: Norey, Burger, J Roots, Tshiunza, Hooper, Worley Brady, Cairns, Hammersley.

Red Card: E. Roots (80)

Referee: Matthew Carley.