'There’s no getting away from it, it’s not where we thought we’d be'

Exeter attack coach Dave Walder praised the performance of centre Henry Slade as he made a strong claim for a return to the England side with a man of the match performance in the 39-12 victory over winless Gloucester.

Slade scored two tries in a 22-point haul, and a delighted Walder said: “He was outstanding today.

“He has been fantastic since I have come to the club, he has been fantastic here for a long time, watching him from afar, he is great to work with, and it is nice to see him enjoying his rugby with the way he is playing.

“He is getting plenty of positive touches, and having other people around him who can maybe take the load off him and create moments of magic across the back line, it is very exciting for us.”

The result left Exeter with only one defeat in their opening block of five Gallagher Prem games and sees them sitting in third place in the table.

Gallagher Premiership

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Northampton

5

4

0

1

23

2

Bath

5

4

1

0

21

3

Exeter Chiefs

5

3

1

1

19

4

Saracens

5

3

2

0

17

5

Bristol

5

3

2

0

14

6

Leicester

4

2

2

0

11

7

Sale

4

2

2

0

10

8

Harlequins

5

2

3

0

10

9

Gloucester

5

0

5

0

3

10

Newcastle

5

0

5

0

0

Walder added: “It brings to an end a really positive block of matches. At the beginning of the season we talked about starting well, with three games at home in the first block of five, and to get three wins is really important.

“After the high of last weekend’s win over Harlequins, we knew it was important we were mentally in the right place today. I thought we started the game brilliantly, we switched off a little bit, but ultimately we did really well to come back, and to keep them down to 12 points was a real testament to how well we defended.

“At times we get a little bit too loose, but at the same time it is nice to see the players are in a good place, wanting to play, and that’s how I want us to attack – making sure we respect the ball and look after it, and when we do that we have got a lot of dangerous players across the pitch, and if we defend like we did today, we will be very competitive all season.”

Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington saw two more players – James Venter and Will Joseph – added to an already very lengthy injury list, and said: “There’s no getting away from it, it’s not where we thought we’d be.

“The five-week plan we had is just completely different to what’s happened. But you’ve got to roll your sleeves up, and sometimes you’ve got to take some punches and you have just got to get on with it.”

He added: “We recruited to try and put some depth in our squad, and all those guys we recruited are playing, when I thought the Prem Cup would be their opportunity.

“We have got a lot of new people, and we have to go away over this break period, have a bit of a reset and think about where we can keep pushing our game forward, and where we have just got to be a little bit smarter.”