Rees-Zammit turns on the style as Gloucester eclipse Exeter
Gloucester reeled off a fourth successive Gallagher Premiership victory and climbed to third in the table after beating Exeter 38-22 at Kingsholm. It was another strong performance by George Skivington’s team, with Wales star Louis Rees-Zammit leading the way ahead of the Autumn Nations Series kick-off. Rees-Zammit pounced for Gloucester’s opening try as the home side triumphed in bonus-point fashion.
Fellow wing Santiago Carreras, hooker Santiago Socino, scrum-half Charlie Chapman, flanker Ruan Ackermann and captain Lewis Ludlow – Ludlow’s score was created by a stunning Rees-Zammit assist – followed him over Exeter’s line, with fly-half Adam Hastings kicking four conversions.
Exeter gave as good as they got for large parts of an absorbing west country derby, claiming tries from scrum-half Jack Maunder, lock Ruben van Heerden and wing Josh Hodge, while Harvey Skinner added two conversions and a penalty. But it was the Chiefs’ third league defeat in six starts this season – and they could have few complaints on a night when Gloucester bossed the key areas at critical moments.
Gloucester showed four changes following last week’s narrow win against London Irish, including call-ups for prop Harry Elrington, lock Cam Jordan and number eight Ben Morgan. Australia international prop Scott Sio made his full Exeter debut, while flanker Lewis Pearson also started, but England training camp commitments ruled out Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds.
Skinner kicked Exeter into a second-minute lead, but his error just three minutes later led to an opening Gloucester try. The fly-half’s kick on halfway was charged down by Socino, Chapman booted the ball on and Rees-Zammit gathered before finishing brilliantly. Hastings’ conversion made it 7-3, and Exeter were under sustained early pressure as the home side strived to continue their strong recent form.
Louis Rees-Zammit has been brilliant tonight ?
He provides a wonderful pass to Lewis Ludlow who celebrates before he leaps for the try ?#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/RVb06aY8bu
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) October 28, 2022
England head coach Eddie Jones looked on as the scoring continued at a rapid pace, with Chiefs responding through a trademark driven lineout that Maunder finished off and Skinner converted. Exeter were soon stretched again as Rees-Zammit surged clear in pursuit of his own kick, but he was denied just inches short of the line following brilliant defensive work by Chiefs wing Olly Woodburn. It was only a temporary reprieve, though, as possession was quickly moved wide to allow Carreras an unopposed run-in.
Gloucester needed to consolidate their position after going back in front, yet they were undone within three minutes after Exeter’s forwards piled on pressure and Van Heerden crossed from close range. Skinner’s conversion opened up a five-point advantage, yet the game’s rollercoaster nature continued as the lead changed hands for a fifth time in 34 minutes when Socino rounded off a driving maul and Hastings converted.
It gave Gloucester a 19-17 interval advantage following an intense opening 40 minutes that delivered five tries. Gloucester extended their lead just two minutes into the second period after Carreras made a blistering outside break, before finding Chapman through an exquisite inside pass, with Hastings converting.
Exeter – their cause not helped by Skinner’s first-half departure through injury – struggled to cope with the Gloucester intensity in the third quarter and the hosts were rewarded with a fifth try, Ackermann the beneficiary this time of more magnificent work by the home pack.
Gloucester substitute Albert Tuisue was yellow-carded 16 minutes from time as Hodge’s try gave Exeter a glimmer of hope, but Exeter centre Ian Whitten also saw yellow following head-on-head contact with Chris Harris. Gloucester comfortably closed out the contest with Ludlow adding try number six and a sold-out Kingsholm roared its approval as their resurgence under Skivington continued.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments