Lake and Loader score twice as Gloucester beat Exeter 45-24

Gloucester opened their Premiership campaign with a 45-24 victory away to Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park on Saturday, September 26. Dewi Lake marked his first league appearance for the club with two tries, while Ben Loader also scored twice, according to BBC Sport's match report.

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The visitors secured their try bonus point before half-time and led 26-12 at the interval. Seb Atkinson joined Loader and Lake on the scoresheet before the break. Exeter's first-half tries came from Josh Iosefa-Scott and Ethan Roots, but the hosts could not prevent Gloucester from building a decisive advantage.

Lake added his second try from a driving maul after the restart, and Will Joseph scored following a solo run. Stephen Varney and Louie Gulley replied for Exeter, securing a try bonus point. Gloucester finished with 14 players after Freddie Thomas was sin-binned, yet Junior Denny scored their seventh try with the final play, BBC Sport reported.

The match was the first league test for a Gloucester side featuring several prominent summer recruits. RugbyPass reported before the game that Lake had been selected as captain on his club debut, with fellow Wales international Jac Morgan and South Africa lock Jean Kleyn also named in George Skivington's starting team for the trip to Devon.

That selection placed Lake between Val Rapava-Ruskin and Afo Fasogbon in the front row, with Kleyn partnering Arthur Clark at lock. Morgan was picked alongside Thomas and Will Trenholm in the back row. The new arrivals were therefore spread through the forward pack, rather than concentrated in one unit, as Gloucester began their league programme.

Skivington had stressed the importance of starting well in comments reported by RugbyPass ahead of the fixture. He pointed to the league's compact blocks of matches and the value of entering breaks in the season with momentum. He also acknowledged Exeter's strong previous campaign and the difficulty of visiting Sandy Park. Gloucester left with an opening victory by 21 points.