Gloucester are determined to make significant progress up the Prem table this season and here was a hugely promising first step. The Cherry and Whites had a bonus point on the board before half-time on a breezy afternoon in Devon and had more than enough in the tank to build on a 14-point interval lead and secure a morale-boosting early away victory.
Considering they claimed just one league win on the road in the whole of the 2025-26 campaign, this seven-try fusillade was a big plus, spearheaded by their new Welsh reinforcements Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan. Lake was the deserved player of the match, scoring two tries and adding significantly to Gloucester's efforts in both the set pieces and the maul.
This performance was also a tribute to the summer input of Gloucester's new forwards coach Brett Deacon, defence coach Joel Tomkins and technical director Chris Boyd, albeit helped by a distinctly off-colour Exeter display described as "baffling" by Rob Baxter, the Chiefs' director of rugby. There was a touch of illness in the home camp this week but that did not wholly account for the visitors' overall supremacy.
In addition to a couple of tries for left wing Ben Loader there was considerably more cohesion and focus to Gloucester's game, not always consistently evident on their travels in recent seasons. And crucially, they now have a central pillar around whom they will be keen to rally. In contrast to the south-west's depleted reservoirs, this newly arrived Lake is already making a significant difference to Gloucester's level.
The visitors, in their pink change strip, certainly made the most of the wind behind them in the opening 40 minutes. There were two very similar tries from little chip kicks out to the left wing which gave the talented Loader plenty of time and space to outflank the cover but the real secret of Gloucester's improvement was the all-round balance to their game.
Rather than chucking the ball around like headless chickens there was much more solidity to their set piece and more control generally. Their defensive appetite was also impressive, forcing the Chiefs to work overtime for any tangible reward in their opponents' 22.
Aside from a forward rumble by Josh Iosefa-Scott and a compelling surge down the left by the forceful Ethan Roots, Chiefs were visibly lacking their usual verve and energy. The reserve forward Joe Bailey was the only player to drop out before kick-off because of illness but the extra spring in Gloucester's step was impossible to ignore. Seb Atkinson should not have been first to Caolan Englefield's chip in behind but, for whatever reason, Exeter's rearguard were caught ball-watching.
Lake, throwing his lineout arrows straighter than Luke Littler and galvanising everyone around him, was already a central figure even before he dived into the left corner to score his side's fourth try just before the break. There was a certain inevitability when the former Osprey burrowed over for his second five minutes after the restart and Chiefs' pain soon deepened further.
Again, there seemed little obvious danger when Will Joseph received the ball wide on the right around the halfway line, only for the younger brother of the former England centre Jonathan to score a quite brilliant weaving solo try to help push Gloucester out to a 20-point lead.
Exeter now had little option but to wake up, assisted by some fresh legs off the bench, and belatedly looked more dangerous. Stephen Varney sprinted over from 30 metres out and the scrum-half would have had a second try had he not been denied by an outstanding last-ditch tackle.
With Freddie Thomas sent to the sin-bin, though, Gloucester had to survive the final 10 minutes with only 14 men and Exeter's replacement hooker, Louie Gulley, collected a try on his Prem debut to secure a try bonus point. It was swiftly trumped, though, by a last-minute try for Junior Denny, prompting a hush to descend upon the home supporters.
Nor was the threadbare attendance of only 8,682 any great cause for Exeter celebration. Their new American backers will have hoped they were taking over a team pushing for a second consecutive Prem final. Suddenly their team will need to improve substantially merely to finish higher than their opponents.
"I thought Gloucester were good and knew what they wanted to do today," said Baxter. "But I don't think I've seen us quite as poor in terms of some of our basics or lack of desire to counterattack into the wind in the second half. Sometimes a slap in the face like this can be good for you but it's up to the lads how they react to it."