Covid outbreak fails to slow Exeter's perfect Premiership start
Exeter bounced back from the outbreak of coronavirus that had swept through Sandy Park to maintain their perfect start to their Gallagher Premiership title defence with a 28-20 victory over Gloucester.
The disruption caused by the spread of Covid-19, forcing the cancellation of their Champions Cup match against Toulouse a week earlier, was evident in a laboured first half.
But inspired by the Simmonds brothers, the double winners ignited to deliver a fourth-successive bonus-point victory and equal the previous best start to a season registered by Saracens in 2018-19.
Number eight Sam Simmonds lifted his try tally for the Premiership campaign to eight with a pair of touchdowns that underpinned the second-half surge, but his brother Joe Simmonds was equally influential at fly-half.
Joe Simmonds completed all four conversions to finish with eight points and the Chiefs captain also went desperately close to scoring a try.
A lively crowd of 2,000 fans also saw Jonny Gray and Ollie Devoto cross either side of the interval as Exeter established a clear lead at the summit of the Premiership.
Gloucester’s finest moments were inspired by replacement scrum-half Tony Venner, whose league debut in the second half brought with it urgency in attack, but they also dominated the start.
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Early celebrations at their maul driving over the whitewash were muted when it was decided they had been held up over the line, but the pressure continued and Lloyd Evans was able to landed a penalty.
Exeter spent most of the opening quarter in their own half as they weathered an audacious onslaught that almost produced a try for hooker Jack Singleton as he galloped on to Evans’ crossfield kick only to be stopped short of the whitewash.
A high error count and poor decision-making contributed to the Chiefs’ difficult start, but Gloucester were also magnificent as they continued to press with a forward-led assault.
Eventually Exeter escaped their half, however, and – having opted for touch instead of goal – they spent a sustained spell probing the visitors’ line with Luke Cowan-Dickie their hardest-working carrier.
Gloucester defended manfully but when they poured around the edges of one ruck, once Gray had picked up the ball, they failed to knock over the Scotland lock and with a big hole in front of him, he powered over.
Evans kicked his second penalty to narrow Exeter’s half-time lead to 7-6 but the double winners emerged from the break with more purpose and they were immediately on to the front foot with Joe Simmonds just knocking on as he slid over the line.
Simmonds was the provider when the Chiefs did engineer their second try shortly after, his sharp pass to Devoto exposing out-of-position centre Chris Harris for a simple run in.
Gloucester’s resistance was clearly crumbling as they accommodated an easy third and Exeter will have scored few simpler mauling tries as their line-out drive met little opposition before Sam Simmonds touched down for the seventh time this season.
Stung into action, the visitors hit back with a purple patch inspired by Venner. One jet heeled run down the touchline left the Chiefs for dead and later in the same spell, he was in support to finish a try that was created by Mark Atkinson’s clever pass in midfield.
Any doubt over the outcome was quickly extinguished, however, as Sam Simmonds drove over from close range.
The exuberant Venner claimed his second with another predatory finish but there was a gasp of disbelief when Evans missed a simple last-gasp penalty that would have secured a losing bonus point.
Comments on RugbyPass
We dominated the scrums Ben Curry was all over pitch again .Surely James Harper got to be one of best English tightheads
1 Go to commentsRoos is a better option at 6 than 8 for the boks. Needs to work on his windgat though.
1 Go to commentsThe Sharks’ 2nd team maybe?
1 Go to comments‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
1 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
7 Go to comments