IT’S taken a while, seven-and-a-half months to be precise, but the rot has finally ended for the Exeter Chiefs.

A first Gallagher Premiership win of the season was celebrated in style at Sandy Park on Sunday, bringing to an end a barren spell for Rob Baxter’s side in English rugby’s top flight.

Eight successive defeats had left the Devonians rock bottom and searching for answers as they headed towards the New Year.

Thankfully, in their final outing of 2024, things at last clicked back into place as they recorded a 22-15 victory over Gloucester.

Tries from Dan Frost, Tamati Tua and Josh Iosefa-Scott sealed the success, but it was their all-round display that augurs well moving forward.

England international Henry Slade - who kicked the remainder of his side’s points - described the winning feeling post-match as ‘better than sex’.

That was quite the statement from the long-serving Chief, but it summed up his - and the feelings of many at the club - after a wretched run of results.

Gloucester, played their part in a competitive fixture, but they will no doubt be left wondering what might have been, especially if Argentinian full-back Santiago Carreras had landed two crucial kicks in the final ten minutes.

The fact he didn’t was telling and it was the Chiefs, who duly celebrated into the night. The Cherry & Whites, however, did threaten to spoil the part as they hit back in the second half with converted tries from Gareth Anscombe and Jamal Ford-Robinson.

Earlier, the Chiefs could not have envisaged a better start, hooker Frost latching onto a Christmas gift from Gloucester counterpart, Seb Blake, whose loose line-out allowed him to dive over inside two minutes.

Slade drilled over the conversion to ensure maximum reward, but the England international was unable to punish Gloucester minutes later when he fired a lengthy penalty wide of the left post.

At the other end, the visitors countered momentarily with a penalty from Carreras, but that was their scant reward in a first half in which they were distinctly second best against a pumped-up Chiefs outfit.

Slade was oozing class with his free-running style in the playmaker role, while up front the back-row triumvirate of Ethan Roots, Jacques Vermeulen and Greg Fisilau were like men possessed, tearing into the Cherry & Whites with a gusto that has been sadly missing for much of the current campaign.

Indeed, it was Roots who laid the foundations for Exeter’s second score, his initial carry, followed up with decent charges from Frost and Scott Sio, gave the Chiefs not only front foot ball, but the penalty advantage, which Slade used to send a cross-field kick into the arms of the unmarked Tua to dot down for his first Premiership score.

It was no more than Baxter’s side deserved for their efforts, which they should have added to on the stroke of half time when powerful approach play released Richard Capstick deep inside the Gloucester 22. With men outside of him, the forward should have offloaded to his team-mates, instead he went it alone and was turned over by some heroic defence from Ruan Ackermann.

Gloucester saw out the dying embers of the half, before re-emerging with a greater hunger than they had shown in the previous 40 minutes. They were quickly into their stride on the resumption, reducing the deficit in minutes as Anscombe picked off a pass from Tua to run in unopposed from halfway for the converted score.

Now with the momentum in their favour, they continued to ask questions of the Chiefs. Pressure was mounting and in the end, it paid dividends when Ford-Robinson, the former Cornish Pirates prop, snuck over from a close-range line-out.

Carreras, surprisingly, screwed his conversion attempt wide, leaving his side just a point in front as the game headed towards a dramatic conclusion.

Slade restored Exeter’s advantage almost immediately, plundering a penalty from the restart after Albert Tuisue infringed in front of his own points, only for Gloucester to counter down the other end of the field, winning a shot at goal of their own. Again, Carreras fluffed his lines at the crucial moment.

The Chiefs, to their credit, dug deep and in one last hurrah, they used their pack to bludgeon their way to the try-line, replacement Iosefa-Scott rumbling over to send much of the sell-out crowd into a state of ecstasy.

Although Slade shanked his conversion attempt wide, the Chiefs were able to stand firm in the closing moments, sealing a success that could well be the turning point in their season.

Chiefs: J Hodge; O Woodburn (W Haydon-Wood 72), B Hammersley, T Tua (Z Wimbush 64), T Wyatt; H Slade, S Townsend (T Cairns 64); S Sio (W Goodrick-Clarke 50), D Frost (J Innard 64), M Street (J Iosefa-Scott 50); D Jenkins (capt, R Tuima 70), R Capstick (F Molina 64); E Roots, J Vermeulen, G Fisilau.

Tries: Frost, Tua, Iosefa-Scott; Conversions: Slade (2); Penalty: Slade

Gloucester: S Carreras; C Wade (G Barton 46), M Llewellyn (C Harris 58), S Atkinson, J Hathaway; G Anscombe (C Englefield 79), T Williams; M Vivas (J Ford-Robinson 48-79), S Blake (J Singleton 52), K Gotovtsev (C Knight 52); F Thomas, M Alemanno (C Jordan 57); J Clement, L Ludlow (capt), R Ackermann (A Tuisue 61).

Tries: Anscombe, Ford-Robinson; Conversion: Carreras; Penalty: Carreras

Referee: I Tempest.

Attendance: 15,000