Sporting ecstasy comes in various forms and Exeter’s first league victory in 232 days was clearly a major relief for all associated with the previously winless Chiefs. “Better than sex,” was the instant verdict of Henry Slade on live television and the collective roar that greeted the final whistle suggested a few onlookers might have agreed with his breathless assessment.
It mattered not that the Chiefs are still languishing in the lower reaches of the Premiership table or that Gloucester’s director of rugby, George Skivington, described the first half as his team’s worst of the season. Here, finally, was some respite from a string of painful defeats and a glimmer of hope that more uplifting times could lie ahead if the attitude and energy that delivered this long‑awaited outcome can be reproduced.
