Iosefa-Scott ensures Exeter hold off Gloucester to end 232-day wait for win

Everything is relative and Exeter are still languishing near the bottom of this season’s Gallagher Premiership table. The wave of ecstatic relief generated by this first league win for 232 days, though, was tangible. If they can reproduce the attitude and energy that delivered this long-awaited outcome, there could finally be more uplifting times to come.

It was not without its anxious moments, particularly when Gloucester engineered a second-half fightback from 11 points down to lead 15-14 with 18 minutes left. Chiefs were also mightily relieved when Santi Carreras missed a potentially game-turning penalty in the 70th minute before the replacement prop Josh Iosefa-Scott crashed over for the short-range score that lifted the home side off the foot of the table.

Some games are absolute must-wins and, from Exeter’s perspective, this was definitely one of them. Nine league defeats in a row, including one at the end of last season, had sapped their supporters’ spirits and a Champions Cup thumping at home to Toulouse was another sobering reminder of their team’s diminished status.

Nor did it help that their England wing, Manny Feyi-Waboso, now faces a potentially lengthy layoff with the shoulder injury he sustained at Sale. Gloucester had also been enjoying a resurgence, keeping Quins scoreless in their most recent success just before Christmas.

The hosts could not have wished for a better start, however, an overthrown lineout presenting the unmarked Dan Frost with a post-Christmas gift. Henry Slade missed the chance to extend the margin with a long-range penalty but swiftly atoned by teeing up the Chiefs’ second try after 17 minutes, his neat cross-kick finding a lurking Tamati Tua in acres of space on the right.

The visitors’ continuing lineout problems also helped the Chiefs to apply further pressure, with the outstanding Ethan Roots a blur of activity and Gloucester barely sighted in their opponents’ 22. There would have been a third Chiefs try if Richard Capstick had not mistakenly gone for glory with two teammates outside him but the 14-3 half-time scoreline pretty much summed up the balance of power.

Dan Frost dives over to score a try for Exeter. Photograph: Harry Trump/Getty Images

Exeter have not altered their entire game plan, but there was more urgency about them in defence and attack and clear recognition that simply going through the motions would not be enough. Slade looks like he is enjoying his expanded role at 10 and there is a better shape to their attack compared to some of their grimmer days this season.

In the back of their minds, though, Chiefs would have been recalling the season’s opening day when they led Leicester by the same margin in the third quarter and still contrived to lose 17-14. Those faint echoes grew deafening when Tua threw a telegraphed ball to his left and Gareth Anscombe swooped for a try which abruptly punctured any hint of Exeter complacency.

Gloucester were duly required to withstand a fresh wave of Chiefs pressure with Lewis Ludlow leading by example. Jacques Vermeulen had the ball dislodged with the line in sight but, despite the visitors’ second-half improvement, Iosefa-Scott’s final rumble proved the saving grace.