Gloucester dent Exeter’s playoff hopes as Llewellyn and Trenholm double up
Almost 12 months ago to the day Exeter shipped 79 points in front of the Shed, precipitating a major coaching reshuffle and a finger-wagging post-match lecture from their chair Tony Rowe.This eventful defeat was not remotely on the same scale but there could yet be a sizeable price to pay as the end-of-season playoffs loom larger.The Chiefs have certainly chosen an awkward moment to suffer back-to-back league defeats, leaving them looking over their shoulders in fourth place with four regular season rounds remaining.On this occasion they could have no complaints whatsoever as a revitalised Gloucester grabbed only their third league win of the campaign with Max Llewellyn and Will Trenholm scoring two tries apiece.Having led 26-12 at half-time, the home side had to survive a last-quarter fightback but deserved their breathless victory which lifts them up to eighth and boosts their prospects of Champions Cup rugby next season.
Exeter came away with a couple of points but their mood was not improved by a last-minute red card shown to Ethan Roots for retaliation.Roots is a key member of the Chiefs back-row and will be a major loss if he is unavailable for Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Ulster.Chiefs also lost the in-form Paul Brown-Bampoe in the opening 40 minutes after the winger took a heavy blow to the head while their fit-again Wallaby centre Len Ikitau looked more than a little rusty on his first appearance since Christmas.To compound matters their scrum came under frequent pressure and their defence, similarly, fell short of the standards they now set themselves.So much for all the pre-game talk of declining jeopardy with no relegation to keep lower-placed sides honest.
That said it is mighty hard to second-guess Gloucester at the moment.If you were being polite you would describe the pre-match stadium vibe as pensive following last week’s 53-12 drubbing down the road at Bristol.This was certainly the sort of up-and-at-em reaction the management and fans were hoping for.“It was all about showing up,” said their director of rugby, George Skivington, “If you’re emotionally there you’ve got a chance.”Club insiders still concede “a lot of work” will have to be done to propel Gloucester back to the upper reaches of the table on a consistent basis but here was welcome evidence that happier times might be around the corner.
For a start they did not fold at the first hint of trouble which swiftly materialised when Brown-Bampoe competed strongly in the air and laid the platform for Ross Vintcent to skip over for the first try inside the opening minute.Better still they were taking their chances.First Llewellyn cut back against the grain to put the hosts on the board before Tomos Williams sliced past some more flat-footed defenders to score a second.The Sunday afternoon atmosphere cranked up even further when the lively Ben Loader escaped another couple of sub-standard tackles and fed the supporting Llewellyn for his second.Exeter badly needed some kind of counterpunch and duly found one when Manny Feyi-Waboso, excellent all day, glided unstoppably away from the cover for a quietly brilliant solo score.
It proved only a brief respite as Gloucester once again attacked with purpose and sluggish defence around the fringes gave Trenholm the opportunity to crash over and secure a bonus point after just 32 minutes,The forceful No 8 moved west from Harlequins last year in search of more opportunities and showed a healthy appetite for the fray here,The non-appearance of Exeter’s entire front-row for the second half was a clear indication the visiting management were less than impressed,Greg Fisilau had his side’s third try on the board within four minutes of the restart but again it owed most to Feyi-Waboso who slalomed past numerous opponents to within a few metres of the home line,It helped to ensure a frantic finish after Trenholm’s second had put Gloucester 34-19 up and seemingly clear.
A penalty try followed by a television match official-approved try by Henry Slade made things much tighter but Gloucester held their nerve when it mattered in a frenzied finale.Exeter will now have to dust themselves down and refocus on their trip to Belfast on Saturday, with their director of rugby Rob Baxter acknowledging their sluggish first-half performance had been “a bit of a concern.” He must also now wait and see if Roots will be available this weekend after taking exception to a tackle from the former Exeter hooker Jack Innard.“I haven’t seen (the incident) and I haven’t spoken to Ethan but everyone knows you can’t react now,” said Baxter.
Children’s shoe retailers say closure of specialist shops is harming foot health
Parents should care for their children’s feet in the same way as their eyes and teeth, according to footwear specialists who say they are seeing more young people with painful conditions such as bunions.Bunions are bony lumps on the side of the foot. People can be genetically pre-disposed but ill-fitting shoes are seen as an aggravating factor.Nadia Arden-Scott, a co-founder of Footwear Hub, said: “Parents have been led to believe that fitting shoes is simple and can be done at home, when the reality is that do-it-yourself shoe fitting is potentially causing long-term damage to their child’s feet.”Data from the property analysts Green Street shows that more than 1,000 shoe shops have closed in Great Britain since 2020
UK urged to deploy EU-style ‘trade bazooka’ against Trump’s tariffs
UK business leaders have called on the government to build an EU-style “trade bazooka” to protect Britain’s economic interests in response to the latest tariff threats from Donald Trump.As transatlantic tensions rise, the British Chambers of Commerce said the UK’s “inadequate economic security” was putting growth and jobs at risk.The lobby group, which represents thousands of firms, urged Keir Starmer to take the lead in protecting Britain from external crises, saying there had been “years of neglect by successive governments”.Geopolitical tensions, the impact of Brexit, the Covid pandemic, and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East mean UK companies are navigating an increasingly fraught global backdrop for international trade.The US president last week threatened to impose “a big tariff” on the UK unless it drops a digital services tax that impacts US technology companies
Musk and Altman’s bitter feud over OpenAI to be laid bare in court
The bitter rivalry between two of the tech world’s most powerful men arrives in court this week, as Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI heads to trial in Oakland, California. The case is set to feature some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, and its outcome could affect the course of the AI boom.Musk’s suit, filed in 2024, focuses on the formative years of OpenAI when he, Altman and others co-founded the artificial intelligence company as a nonprofit with a grand purpose.“OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return,” reads the company’s mission statement, published in late 2015
UK departments at odds over energy demands of AI datacentres
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London Marathon hails ‘greatest day’ as Sawe breaks two hours and records tumble
The London Marathon’s organisers have hailed the “greatest day” in the event’s 45-year history after huge crowds watched Sabastian Sawe become the first man to shatter the two-hour barrier in an official race, and a world record tally of more than 60,000 runners started the event.By 6.30pm on Sunday evening, organisers were also hopeful of breaking the record number of 59,226 finishers, set by the New York Marathon last year, although they said it could go right down to the deadline of 11:59pm.Hugh Brasher, the race director, said that an estimated 800,000 supporters had watched an epic men’s race, in which Sawe and the Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha had both run under two hours.Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Tigst Assefa set a women’s-only world record, for races involving only female pace setters, although it was five minutes behind the outright women’s world record
Sibley’s century gives Surrey edge over Essex: county cricket, day three – as it happened
Sabastian Sawe may have crossed the marathon finishing line in under two hours, but things were more sedate a couple of miles away at the Oval where Dom Sibley escorted Surrey towards parity and beyond. He spent nearly 20 minutes on 99 before reaching his first hundred of the year, though shortly afterwards was the unlucky recipient of a Sam Cook cracker. Dan Lawrence leapt to an entertaining 125. Surrey finished with a lead of 63 and Essex saw off the final nine overs of the day. Surrey had promised free entry to any marathon runners but there was no sign of medals
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