Exeter player ratings: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso ‘a real life cheat code’ but ‘lash out’ costs Chiefs after late ‘turn on’
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (left) was a real point of difference for Exeter against Gloucester
Following Exeter Chiefs’ 34-31 defeat to Gloucester in round 13 of the PREM, here is how we scored Rob Baxter’s men at Kingsholm.
Exeter Chiefs player ratings v Gloucester
15 Campbell Ridl: Brave is probably the right way to describe his display. Was always willing to put his hand up for work and came out with some decent change as a result. Probably needs some new ribs after a huge tackle from Ben Loader, though. 6
14 Paul Brown-Bampoe: Lively start, including an assist, but came off after just 19 minutes with a head knock. 6
13 Henry Slade: Blew hot and cold for most of the match, but goodness me, when Slade turned it on, he was classy. A real driving force in Exeter’s late resurgence, both in the scoring of his try and his actions in attack. 6
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12 Len Ikitau: A rusty return from injury, but will be better for the minutes after such a long time out. 5
11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso: He’s a real-life cheat code, isn’t he? At times, it seemed like Exeter’s plan was ‘get the ball to Manny’, but he consistently made things happen for his side ball-in-hand and got a deserved try in the process. 8
10 Harvey Skinner: Had his moments early on, but like Slade really came to the fore late on. 5
9 Stephen Varney: Not the return to Kingsholm he would have hoped for, but he was not alone in that, to be honest. 5
Back-row
8 Greg Fisilau: A game of two halves for the England hopeful, really. Found himself under the pump against a revved-up Gloucester back-row in the first-half, but shook that off well to have his traditional explosive efforts in the second half and got himself a try in the process. 6
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7 Ross Vintcent: Comes out of the game in good credit. Took his try pretty well early doors and made a positive impact on both sides of the ball as well. 7
6 Ethan Roots: Was fine for most of his shift, but his late lashing out ultimately brought an end to Exeter’s inspired fightback. 4
Tight five
5 Lewis Pearson: Industrious shift from the lock, but unable to turn the tide with Exeter’s pack losing the battle up-front. 5
4 Rusi Tuima: Grew into the game as it went on, but like his lock partner, couldn’t quite swing the momentum of the game. 5
3 Josh Iosefa-Scott: Got around to decent effect in the loose, to his credit, but was second-best in a scrum battle against Val Rapava-Ruskin and came off at half-time. 5
2 Joseph Dweba: Made himself busy on either side of the ball, but the set-piece didn’t quite go to plan during his shift and was another to go off at the interval. 5
1 Will Goodrick-Clarke: Again, worked well around the park, ending with a healthy 12 tackles for good measure, but found himself under pressure all afternoon in the scrum and joined his front-row colleagues on the bench after half-time. 5
Replacements: The bench likely come out of this with decent credit. Tom Hooper and Christ Tshiunza, in particular, took things up a gear at a time when Exeter were crying out for something, and both had a major impact on proceedings as a result. Elsewhere, Ben Hammersley brushed off some early wobbles to have a decent go of it too. 6