A mole, a Lion and a confession – Premiership Rugby talking points

Chiefs suffer from loose lips.

Exeter will be looking for a mole in the wake of their 13-try demolition by Gloucester in a furious debrief.

In the wake of Kingsholm’s 79-17 thrashing, Ludlow told TNT Sports, “We heard a rumour that someone in the Exeter camp called us soft, so we had to make a point.”

“That little bit of fuel came from the huddle every time we got in.”

Christian Wade, a team-mate of Ludlow, later suggested that one of Gloucester’s Welsh players was the subject of the inaccurate assessment and their motivation, thereby reducing the list of potential candidates.

However, there is plenty of blame to be shared.

On a sunny day and with the hosts’ artificial pitch, Exeter were also ground dust up front, something that will happen to better teams than them.

After six minutes, Jack Clement was pushed over. Short-range hat-trick was scored by replacement hooker Jack Singleton in 27 minutes.

Five years ago, the Chiefs’ domestic and international dominance was stifled by their flimsy defense, which was their lowest-ever weekend tackle success, with only 66% tackle success, which was the lowest among any team.

Tony Rowe, the chairman of the member-owned club, went into the away dressing room to show how far the current team has come from. He has seen the member-owned club move from the second tier of the English game to the top of the club.

Exeter’s head coach, Rob Hunter, said, “Tony is entirely entitled to come in there and fire into everyone.”

This was the final round of Premiership games for contenders because the British and Irish Lions squad would be announced on May 8.

Both Gloucester’s Tomos Williams and Northampton’s Alex Mitchell, both leading scrum-half candidates, had excellent victories.

However, Richard Wigglesworth’s presence as Lions assistant coach at Sale’s win over Saracens was perhaps most intriguing.

George Ford will be hoping that his former team-mate from Leicester and England arrived on time.

In the opening 90 seconds, Ford broke through Saracens’ defense to set up Rekeiti Ma’asi-White’s opening score.

The 32-year-old would have to navigate through similarly heavy traffic to make his first Lions tour because of Sale coach Alex Sanderson, who is also a big advocate.

Because of their attacking and game-breaking prowess, Sanderson claimed, “people have put other fly-halves ahead of him.”

“But I believe he showed tonight that he also has that in his game,” he questioned.

Are George the only fly-halves in Britain and Ireland who can compete with him? “I don’t believe so,”

Wigglesworth might have dropped Steve Borthwick in front-row situations while on loan from England.

A bath with this much grittiness and fizz is probably a jacuzzi.

Ciaran Donoghue, 22, made his league debut against Newcastle, helping Bath to win the Premiership Rugby Cup.

It went well.

In just two minutes, he carved the Falcons open like a Christmas turkey, scoring a stunning try. The player of the match award was presented alongside a performance that included 13 unbeaten defenders (a record for a single game this season), 190 metres made, a 100% success rate off the tee, and more.

Donoghue, who also plays full-back, is yet another member on the fearsome roster for the leaders’ 2025-26 campaign, with Henry Arundell and Santi Carreras of Gloucester and Henry Arundell of Gloucester taking the place in the summer.

Emeka Ilione from Leicester was another youngster to step up and take the initiative.

In the Tigers’ victory over Harlequins, the 23-year-old back row made a destructive comeo on both sides of the ball.

Ilione recorded six tackles and 34 metres, more than any other Tigers forward, in 31 minutes on the pitch.

Ilione, a former England under-20s captain, has one more year until his medical degree is complete while playing.

I apologize, “I made a mistake, it’s my fault.”

Own it if you make a mistake.

When Sale, chasing a bonus-point lead over Saracens, admitted to captains Dan du Preez and Maro Itoje that he had mistakenly witnessed a knock-on when there hadn’t been when he admitted to seeing a try after it had been wrongly chalked off by referee Christophe Ridley.

Seven points were wiped off the Welford Road scoreboard when Anthony Woodthorpe realized after Handre Pollard converted that an error by Leicester wing Adam Radwan shouldn’t stand.

This week’s agent for Arthur Clark might not be as busy.