It was a night in which Gloucester got back on track in their bid for a play-off finish.

The hosts looked a completely different side to the one that played against Sale and Leicester in the New Year with renewed intensity and attacking intent.

Our season had got off to a fine start; after 10 rounds Gloucester were sitting nicely in third on 32 points, eight points clear of fourth place.

However, after a mid-season wobble and five straight losses in all competitions, they found themselves in fourth, well in and amongst the pack and in need of a win to stop the slide.

Nic White of Exeter Chiefs scores the opening try

The first try for Exeter was disappointing. It was a defensive misread, whereby in the end we had three players on the blindside defending nobody, leaving Mark Atkinson trying to cover both Whitten and White, but otherwise it was a bright first half.

The visitors wouldn’t score again before the break as Gloucester dominated possession and territory for the majority, only crossing once, though, through Woodward.

The story was similar in the second period with Exeter scoring from their only real opportunity (apart from the final play) and Gloucester eventually getting the winning score in the 76th minute.  

One thing was evident: the break came at a good time. After the game against Munster, Gloucester were on the back of three defeats and other teams were gaining on them.

Furthermore, the injury list was growing so four weeks without meaningful games came at the right time.

Gloucester looked rejuvenated and re-energised on Friday, boosted by welcome returns to the side for captain Willi Heinz and also Tom Marshall, who always manages to seamlessly slot back into the team straight away.

Furthermore, Gloucester looked more dangerous with two ball carriers in the back row. To have the same attacking potency, we need to play two of Ackermann, Morgan and Kriel, along with Atkinson at 12, who always threatens the line.

Although we haven’t lost anyone to the Six Nations the team oozes international quality. Cipriani controlled the attack from fly-half, Ben Morgan carried hard from number eight and Ollie Thorley made a game-high 136 metres with ball in hand.

Ollie Thorley of Gloucester Rugby is tackled by Santiago Cordero of Exeter Chiefs

Thorley was given man of the match by BT Sport, however, for me, Gloucester’s biggest contribution came from Franco Mostert. He is used to Ackermann’s fast, free-flowing style of play so is a perfect addition in the engine room and has a work-rate that is rarely matched.

So, it was a much improved performance from Gloucester, after a pretty average Christmas period but there is one big thing that needs improving from the game. Accuracy.

We need to be more clinical in attack as the game shouldn’t have been on the line going into the final play. Gloucester had more than enough opportunities but could never get more than seven points ahead.