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

Loose lips sink Chiefs.

Amid an ugly debrief following their 13-try demolition by Gloucester, Exeter will be hunting a mole.

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

"Every time we got in a huddle it gave that little bit of fuel."

Ludlow's team-mate Christian Wade went on to suggest one of Exeter's Welsh players was the source of the misguided assessment and Gloucester's motivation, narrowing the possible candidates down to a handful.

There is plenty of blame to share around though.

Exeter weren't just outsmarted by Gloucester's tiki-taka offloading game - something that will happen to better teams than them on a sunny day and the hosts' artificial pitch - they were also ground to dust up front.

Jack Clement was driven over after six minutes. Replacement hooker Jack Singleton scored a 27-minute short-range hat-trick.

The red-zone ruthlessness that defined the Chiefs in their domestic and European double five years ago was turned against them as their flimsy defence recorded only 66% tackle success, the joint-lowest of any team this weekend.

Chairman Tony Rowe, who has seen the member-owned club rise from the English second tier to the top of the club game, went into the away dressing room to outline just how far off those heights the current team has fallen.

"Tony is entirely entitled to come in there and fire into everybody," Exeter head coach Rob Hunter said.

"He puts a lot of time and effort into the club, and his expectations and everyone else's expectations should be way, way higher than that."

With the British and Irish Lions squad to be announced on 8 May, this was the final round of Premiership games for contenders to press their case.

Northampton's Alex Mitchell and Gloucester's Tomos Williams, both leading scrum-half candidates, burnished their chances with excellent showings in victory.

Perhaps most intriguing, though, was Lions assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth's presence at Sale's win over Saracens.

George Ford will hope his former Leicester and England team-mate was in his seat promptly.

Ford sliced through Saracens' defence twice in the opening 90 seconds to set up Rekeiti Ma'asi-White's opening score.

With Finn Russell, Sam Prendergast, Fin Smith and Marcus Smith in the mix, the 32-year-old would have to weave through similarly heavy traffic to make his first Lions tour, but he has a big advocate in Sale coach Alex Sanderson.

"People have put other fly-halves ahead of him because of their attacking, game-breaking prowess," said Sanderson.

"But I think he showed tonight that he's got that in his game as well - what can't he do?

"Are there three better fly-halves in Britain and Ireland than George? I don't think so."

On secondment from England duty, Wigglesworth might well have dropped Steve Borthwick a line on front-row matters.

Sale's Bevan Rodd, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour, a combination that might well be available for the summer tour of Argentina, dominated to the extent they even claimed a scrum against the head.

A Bath with this much depth and fizz is probably technically a jacuzzi.

Twenty-two year-old Ciaran Donoghue, who steered Bath to their Premiership Rugby Cup triumph, made his league debut against Newcastle.

It went well.

He scored a scintillating try inside two minutes, carving the Falcons open like a Christmas turkey. It was part of a performance that featured 13 beaten defenders (a record for a single match this season), 190 metres made, a 100% success rate off the tee and the player of the match award.

With Russell on the bench and Gloucester's Santi Carreras and Racing's Henry Arundell en route in the summer, Donoghue, who also plays full-back, is another entry on a fearsome roster for the leaders' 2025-26 campaign.

Another youngster to step in and step up was Leicester's Emeka Ilione.

The 23-year-old back row, who signed a contract extension in March, was a destructive cameo on both sides of the ball in the Tigers' win over Harlequins.

In 31 minutes on the pitch, Ilione made 34 metres - more than any other Tigers forward - and six tackles.

A former England under-20s captain, Ilione still has another year until he completes the medical degree he is juggling alongside playing.

We may see plenty more of the doctor in the future.

"It's my fault, I made a mistake, I apologise."

If you make a mistake, own it.

When Sale, chasing a bonus-point score against Saracens, had a try wrongly chalked off by referee Christophe Ridley, he admitted to captains Dan du Preez and Maro Itoje he thought he'd seen a knock-on when there hadn't been.

In a similar vein, Anthony Woodthorpe, realising only after allowing Handre Pollard to convert that a try by Leicester wing Adam Radwan shouldn't stand, wiped seven points off the Welford Road scoreboard.

Errors are inevitable. Managing them with honesty and clarity isn't though. Ridley and Woodthorpe did their bit for official-audience relations.

In November 2014, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr's one-handed touchdown catch in an NFL game against Dallas Cowboys propelled him to superstardom and spawned a slew of endorsement deals., external

Arthur Clark's agent is probably not quite so busy this week.

But the Gloucester lock's superb restart take,, external all arched back, strained sinew and single-paw dexterity, early against Exeter bore more than a bit of a resemblance.