Exeter Chiefs Leave It Late To Extend Home Run

Exeter Chiefs remain unbeaten at home in the Gallagher Premiership after a dramatic, last gasp victory against Gloucester lifted the Vertu Motors-backed side to third in the table.

The team returned to Sandy Park looking to bounce back from a difficult outing at Northampton in the previous game, which had resulted in a disappointing 34-19 defeat.

Cheered on by a bumper crowd, the Chiefs were given an early advantage when Jack Clement was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle in the opening moments of the game, and Rus Tuima duly dived over for the first score of the game to put the home side in front, with Henry Slade kicking the extras.

Tuima himself was then sent to the bin and Clement returned to action to level the scores with a converted try before Dafydd Jenkins ensured a half-time lead for the Chiefs with a fine team try – even though Slade was unable to make the conversion.

Ollie Thorley put Gloucester back in front shortly after half-time before see-saw game swung back towards the Chiefs as Slade put a penalty between the sticks.

It looked like the 13 month unbeaten home record was coming to an end however as Louis Rees-Zammit and Seb Atkinson scored in quick succession to move Gloucester back into the lead, although George Barton was only able to convert one of the two kicks to leave the gap between the two teams at nine points with less than ten minutes to go.

Stu Townsend dived over with four minutes to go with Slade kicking the conversion to bring the gap between the two sides down to just two points and when the Chiefs were then given a penalty in the last minute, Slade stepped up to secure victory with the final kick of the game.

As a result, the Chiefs sit third in the points going into the trip to Newcastle next weekend.