Henry Slade's strike (centre) has brought four wins in a row at Sandy Park this season. Photo: Getty Images/Steve Paston Exeter Chiefs 25 Gloucester 24
While many of Exeter Chiefs' golden generation may have left for pastures new last summer, one golden gem remained in place at Sandy Park.
Not taken into account by England head coach Steve Borthwick. At this summer's Rugby World Cup, Henry Slade made it his mission to not only prove the doubters wrong, but at the same time help develop new kids for the club.
With time almost up and his club on the brink of a potential first defeat on home soil in more than a year, Exeter's own Rolls-Royce purred on overdrive, delivering a knockout blow that rattled Gloucester and doomed the visitors to a fourth successive Gallagher. Defeat in the Premier League.
Often at the center of many of Exeter's biggest success stories in recent years, the 30-year-old has never played such a decisive role in Chiefs' fortunes. His value to the club is immeasurable and you can bet that bottom dollar Director of Rugby Rob Baxter is already crunching the numbers to ensure his prized asset remains in place for the foreseeable future.
BOARDS DID IT! 🤯
Henry Slade scores this red-clock penalty with nerves of steel to give @ExeterChiefs a 25-24 win over Gloucester!#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/BgBsKn1xLj
— Rugby continues TNT Sport (@rugbyontnt) November 19, 2023
“Henry offers a lot,” Baxter said. “Now I watch him train and play with the same energy that I always watched him train and play with. I think he was one of those guys who played with a huge weight on his shoulders the last couple of seasons.
“Now you can see he's freed up a little bit from that and it helps him and everyone around him to be their best selves. On top of that, he's the guy who will keep his composure in those tense moments because he's been there and done that. It's not just a penalty but a conversion that he should have taken and with Joe Hawkins in the center next to him they were the defining difference between the two teams today.»
Simply As in previous home matches this year season, the Chiefs quickly went on offense. Taking advantage of an early yellow card for Gloucester number eight Clement, the Devons saw captain Jenkins linger over the line before they finally made the breakthrough on ten minutes.
Not the start Gloucester was hoping for 😬
Jack Clement gets a yellow card for that high tackle 🟡 #GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/j6QIhTRXea
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 19, 2023
Using the reliability of his much-improved scrum, Tom Cairns bravely fired from base before Tuima, the Fijian player in the second row, broke through for the first score.
Tuima's joy, however, proved short-lived as he followed the same path to a mischievous move as Clement when he was noted for a major hit on Gloucester hooker George McGuigan.
In his absence, the bosses did everything they could to plug the hole it had left in the heart of Exeter's engine room. Indeed, for much of his stay in the fridge they carried out the job masterfully with aplomb, before Louis Rees-Zammit's burst and then Chris Harris' deft trap saw Clement gallop through a gaping hole in the home defence.
When parity was restored, the home team re-entered the game, with Slade becoming «chief conductor». It was his darting strides in the midfield that saw him slip from cover before sending the ball back into the net for captain Dafydd Jenkins to claim his first top score.
Focus on the scoreboard and the ball. With the wind howling across the pitch, Gloucester improved greatly after the break. Although much of their attacking effort was hampered in the first period, things have improved significantly.
As the pressure began to mount on the Chiefs, the Cherries and Whites looked for opportunities to make hay. Ollie Thorley provided the initial threat in the build-up to the second try, attacking the Exeter defense powerfully before clever work from Seb Atkinson and Santi Carreras created the opportunity for Thorley to thunder through.
Down by nine with just as many minutes left on the clock, the Chiefs needed to marshal their resources. Egged on by their supporters, they did just that, with Stu Townsend taking to the air to dive and score a vital score. Slade missed the conversion under pressure and then added the finishing touch in the final minute to take the lead and convert the winning penalty from just inside the opposition half.
It was a Balls of Steel performance from the Plymouth-born playmaker but it underlined his undoubted value to Exeter.
Match details
Goal sequence:5-0 Tuima Three, 7-0 Slade Conversion, 7-5 Clement Try, 7-7 Barton Conversion, 12-7 Jenkins Try, 12-12 Thorley Try, 15-12 Slade Pan, 15-17 Rees-Zammit Try, 15-19 Barton Con, 15-24 Atkinson try, 20-24 Townsend try, 22-24 Slade Con, 25-24 Slade Pen
Exeter Chiefs:T. Wyatt; I. Fahey-Waboso, H. Slade, J. Hawkins, B. Hammersley (O. Woodburn 63, W. Haydon-Wood 66); H. Skinner, T. Cairns (S. Townsend 62); S. Sio (N. Abuladze, 52), J. Yeandle (D. Frost, 52), E. Painter (J. Iosefa-Scott, 52); R. Tuima (L. Pearson, 62), D. Jenkins (c); A Roots (R Vincent 65), J Vermeulen A Davies.
Yellow card: Tuima
Gloucester Rugby:S Carreras; L. Rees-Zammit, K. Harris, S. Atkinson, O. Thorley; J Barton, M Young (S Varney 63); M. Vivas (H. Elrington 56), J. McGuigan (S. Sosino 56), F. Balmain (K. Knight 56); F. Clark, M. Alemanno; A. Tuisu (F. Thomas, 18), L. Ludlow (c), J. Clement. Subs (not used): A. Clarke, M. Atkinson, L. Hillman-Cooper.
Yellow card: Clement
Referee: I Tempest
Attendance: 9793
Baxter denies financial Chiefs concerns 
Rob Baxter unhappy with incorrect reports of Exeter's financial difficulties Photo: Bob Bradford/CameraSport
Team director » Exeter Chiefs rugby player Rob Baxter has played down concerns that the Gallagher Premiership side are in financial difficulties.
Reports on Sunday highlighted the Devon club's concerns after it emerged that the Chiefs playing squad had received wages in arrears last month.
Baxter said: “There is no point in what happened the mystery, the unfortunate thing — and that's the way the rugby world is now — is how it all came out. The players were not paid a day late, they were paid the same morning as expected.
“The reality is that we have an automated system that feeds into the bank with all the payroll details. They usually hit the players' reserve account just after midnight on the day of the month on which they receive their salary.
“It had not been paid by eight o'clock in the morning, I was aware of this, so I contacted the accounting department here. They already knew about the problem and contacted the bank. Simply put, someone entered an error in the name or account number, which means it did not happen automatically.
“Once that was changed, they were all paid by 10am. The problem is that during this period of time, someone messaged someone and said, “You got paid, I got paid,” and some journalist got his hands on it.”
Baxter added: «The club is actually looking at a scenario where if people are falsely making a big deal out of it and it's costing us something financially, the club is looking at the legal side of it because everyone got paid in the end.» on the right day of the month, and there seem to be a couple of stories going around that tell a little more about it. If this results in us losing sponsors, there will be a financial situation.”
Premiership Rugby was rocked last month by the loss of London Irish, Wasps and Worcester Warriors due to financial problems. The loss of another club would be seen by many as a disaster, so Baxter's latest comments will help ease concerns about the modern game.
“For me there is no other story than the demise of the other three clubs. recently went bankrupt, that’s what makes this story history,” he said. «The only reason this came to light was because at some stage someone panicked about not being paid.
» Here, like many others, clubs, there are guys who were in clubs that went bankrupt and they probably had the same story where they didn't get paid. I was sitting in a team meeting and I told the guys, “You're all going to get paid in the next few hours,” and before the meeting ended, they got paid.”
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