Exeter v Gloucester: Five takeaways as Wales stars help break record at Sandy Park in biggest-ever win
Exeter v Gloucester: Five takeaways as Wales stars help break record at Sandy Park in biggest-ever win
Gloucester secured their biggest-ever win at Sandy Park on Saturday, their first at the ground in 12 years. The cherry and whites won 24-45 in the opening round of the 2026/27 Prem season.
Here are our five takeaways.
The top line
Gloucester started the strongest, with an ambitious early attack ending in a Ben Redshaw kick to the corner for Ben Loader to finish.
A quick reply from Chiefs’ Josh Iosefa-Scott wasn’t enough to dampen their spirits, as the visitors continued their onslaught with another couple of tries through Charlie Atkinson and Loader again, the latter with a kick collection in the corner.
The home side were not willing to give up quite yet, as giant Ethan Roots barrelled over to narrow the scoreline mere minutes before the half. But whatever Exeter could do, Gloucester could do twice as well and a double through new signing Dewi Lake either side of the interval gave the visitors a real chokehold on the game.
As if things weren’t bad enough for Chiefs, Will Joseph pulled out a 50-metre wonder-try with a quarter of the match remaining, symbolising the hosts’ painful death.
Stephen Varney did return fire for the Chiefs a minute later, and Louie Gulley scored on his Prem debut to secure a try bonus point in the final minutes. Still, it would be Junior Denny who signed off a splendid day for the Kingsholm side, scoring a debut try to take them well out of reach.
Chiefs still sunning themselves on the Devon beach
The commentary team appeared to accuse Chiefs of a lack of bravery, pointing out that despite their extended stays in the opposition half, they failed time and time again to profit from their dominance.
We’d argue, however, that there were some genuine displays of out-the-box thinking and ambition, particularly with some of Harvey Skinner’s and Henry Slade’s looping passes, not to mention the attempted offloads displayed by the likes of Roots, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Greg Fisilau.
The issues, however, were in the clunky and almost confused execution. Not blaming the aforementioned players in particular, but as a team they appeared, at least at surface level, unsure where each other were supposed to be and which lines they were expected to run at any given time.
This was a far cry from the giant-beating Chiefs side we saw at the end of last season, the one that pushed a world-class Northampton Saints outfit to the brink at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in June.
The source of this confusion is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the lack of competitive game time pushed back two weeks, or maybe something else. The result remains the same; too many mistakes and not enough points on the board.
Dewi Lake, captain: Prem debut, Gloucester debut
There were huge rumbles around the west country when Welsh import Dewi Lake was announced as the new Gloucester captain before even playing a competitive game for the club. But an almost perfect display on his Prem debut away from home should be more than enough to dispel even his hardiest of critics.
His lineout was perfect; he scored two tries, made a team-high of 14 carries, made 12 tackles and kept his nose squeaky clean throughout before departing early in the second half. Gloucester fans could have asked for no more, other than a hat-trick next time.
Lake was brought into the squad for his skill level and made captain for his leadership. On that display, he could end up proving to be the signing of the season.
A keen eye on the new signings
Not allowing Lake to take all the headlines, fellow Welsh star Jac Morgan was just as prolific, making an almost unbelievable 23 tackles in his Gloucester debut. He played all 80 minutes on Saturday, and his work rate made it look like he could go for another 80.
There was also a return to the Prem for former England international Dan Robson, who was back with the cherry and whites for the first time since 2015. Fans were thrilled to see him representing their club after so many years away, and he looked lively during his 25-minute spell at the end, linking up well with young fly-half Charlie Atkinson.
Phil Cokanasiga was another Gloucester arrival, fitting in nicely to what is looking like a very stacked midfield this season. He linked up well with Seb Atkinson, and used his physicality to free up the wide men.
Exeter’s Will Butt arrived from Bath in the summer, and looked to implement himself in his first appearance at Sandy Park. Sadly, he failed to get involved quite as much as he would have liked, not necessarily because of his own fault, but he will want to link better with his teammates in coming matches.
Will Joseph’s wonder try
It seems only fair to finish with one of the scores of the round.
Collecting the ball on the right-hand side, the younger brother of ex-England international Jonathan stepped inside of Feyi-Waboso, darted towards the centre of the field, threw an audacious dummy to skip between two would-be defenders and scored what will likely be one of the tries of the season.
It’s not the first time he has pulled something like this out of the bag, and it surely won’t be the last. The man deserves his moment.