Exeter fly-half Gareth Steenson produced an exemplary kicking display to give the Chiefs a memorable win over Gloucester on their Premiership debut.

Exeter drew first blood as winger Mark Foster touched down in the fifth minute before James Simpson-Daniel hit back with a try for Gloucester. Steenson hit three more penalties for an 11-point Exeter half-time lead. Tim Taylor added a second Gloucester try but Steenson was unflappable and added six points to secure victory.

In front of 9,562 fans at Sandy Park, Exeter enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and were rewarded for their early endeavour when Foster dived over. The touchdown came after a poor clearance from Gloucester's captain Mike Tindall allowed the Chiefs to pile on pressure. After several phases of attacking play, Rob Baxter's men shipped the ball wide, finding Foster in space which the winger expertly utilised to score.

Gloucester were back within two points a little over five minutes later as Luke Narraway and David Lewis combined well to allow Simpson-Daniel space to cross in the corner. But Steenson's right boot quickly took over, as the Irishman kicked a trio of penalties to give the Chiefs a 16-5 lead at the break. In stark contrast, Steenson's opposite man Nicky Robinson was off target all afternoon, putting most of his attempts at goal wide.

Bryan Redpath's men came out with renewed vigour in the second-half and quickly got themselves back to within six points when fly-half Taylor went over for the visitors second try. Robinson' s conversion attempt - which could have put the visitors within four points - hit the upright.
Gloucester fashioned a good chance to put winger Lesley Vainikolo clear 20 metres out but the crucial pass was ruled forward.

Steenson continued to slot his place kicks and rounded off a good attacking phase with a drop-goal to give the Chiefs a dream start to life in the English elite.

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

"It was a fantastic start for us, and we've got some very valuable points on the board.

"It was a real performance of grit and endeavour and particularly in the first 30 minutes we looked a very good attacking side.

"I was really pleased with our level of performance today - it was a step forward from our two pre-season games which is all we ask of the boys - to keep moving forward."

Bryan Redpath head coach for Gloucester told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"That was an unacceptable performance by the players, I was hugely disappointed by the mistakes in the core elements of the game that hadn't been there for the previous three weeks and today that came back today in abundance".

"Take nothing away from Exeter, vey efficient, very simple with what they've done but we have to be hugely critical of our own performance. Across the board we were very disappointing".

"It's nothing to do with structure, it's nothing to do with how fit we are or how strong we are, it's the core basics of the game. A terrible performance by us, I'm massively disappointed".

Exeter: Arscott, Sestaret, Dollman, Rennie, Foster, Steenson, Thomas, Sturgess, Clark, Tui, Hayes, Hanks, Johnson, Scaysbrook, Phillips.
Replacements: Jess for Rennie (55), Cowley for Thomas (74), Moon for Sturgess (69), Alcott for Clark (53), Budgen for Tui (56), Gannon for Hanks (68), Slade for Phillips (53).

Gloucester: Morgan, Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Vainikolo, Robinson, Lewis, Wood, S. Lawson, Capdevielle, Attwood, Brown, Buxton, Qera, Narraway.
Replacements: Taylor for Morgan (24), Molenaar for Tindall (62), Pasqualin for Lewis (64), Dickinson for Wood (54), Azam for S. Lawson (69), James for Brown (69), Strokosch for Buxton (48).