Chiefs U18s 17 Gloucester U18s 14

Exeter Chiefs U18s 17

Gloucester U18s 14

Exeter Chiefs Under-18s coach Marc Dibble was full of praise for his side as they claimed their first win of the season, defeating visiting Gloucester 17-14 at Truro College.

Having suffered losses to Bath and Harlequins in the opening rounds of the competition, it was a case of third time lucky for the Chiefs as a powerful second half display helped steer them to victory.

In what was a tight opening half, it was the hosts who took the lead on the half-hour mark when strong work from winger Jack Statton saw him burst through before offloading to centre George Edson who was able to run in from 25m out.

Gloucester, however, replied on the stroke of half time, levelling the game up when scrum-half Joe Adams picked up from the base of a scrum on halfway to feed centre Tom Riman, who was able to run through the middle of the Chiefs back division to score by the posts

Captain Kiellen Cullen converted that score, before adding the extras to Gloucester’s second, which arrived on 47 minutes through Sam Vince. The front-row forward was able to steal over on the blind-side, exposing a lack of numbers in the home defence to touchdown.

Behind for the first time in the contest, it was a solid response from the Chiefs, reducing the deficit just before the hour mark when Statton again turned provider, this time offloading to fellow wing Dan Hamilton-Strong to cross in the left corner.

The score clearly ignited the Chiefs and with ten minutes remaining they claimed the match-winning try, hooker Jack Ballett driving over from a close-range pick-and-go move. Replacement Ben Coen landed the conversion to seal victory.

Post-game, Dibble said: “We have seen over the last few performances how the team are growing by the week. To get the win is a huge achievement and rewards the effort that the players have put in during training.

“Now, the challenge is for us to build on that victory and take that into our final few games. Certainly we can take a lot of confidence from this performance as it underlined a lot of what we have been working on recently.”

Chiefs: C Groves (B Coen 55); J Statton, Z Wimbush (J Baker-Hands ht), G Edson, D Hamilton-Strong; N Dart, J Walker (M Fergusson 50); R Lawrence (C Arnold 45), P Harris (J Ballett 45), T Gulley (A Rolls 45); E Spurway (J Salvi 47), J Bailey (capt); W Saltmarsh (C Parr 47), S Findley, B Elderkin

Tries – Edson, Hamilton-Strong, Ballett; Conversion – Coen

Gloucester: I Jones; M Knight (B Peters 40), T Riman, T Samak (A Hossack 45), T Lewis (N Thomson-Lee 55); K Cullen (capt), J Adams; T Harvey (W Hurn 16), C Williams (G Merritt ht), H Pearson; R Ford (C Williams 65), M Nixon; S Anson, F Stevens (S Vince 4), J Hall.

Tries - Riman, Vince; Conversions – Cullen (2)

Referee: R Sant’anna