Braves 30 Saracens 39

Exeter Braves 30

Saracens Storm 39

Mark Stevens at Sandy Park

 

Exeter Braves kicked off their Aviva Premiership A League campaign with a disappointing 39-30 defeat at home to Saracens.

Despite leading for long periods of an entertaining encounter at Sandy Park, the Braves were unable to stop a powerful second half display from their rivals who eventually ran in five tries on the night.

Richard Barrington, Sam Stanley, Nathan Earle, Ben Ransom and Charlie Kingsman all crossed for the visitors, whilst Ben Spencer and Nils Mordt shared the remainder of their points with the boot.

For the Braves, Sam Blanchet, Kai Horstmann and Stuart Townsend all found their way onto the try-sheet, whilst Ceri Sweeney adding a further 15 points with the boot.

Sadly, though, it was not enough for the Braves who, when reviewing the video tomorrow, will be kicking themselves for not making the most of some golden opportunities.

With the Chiefs coaching staff keen to have a look at those first team stars not involved at Northampton on Saturday, it was a powerful line-up that took to the field against the visiting Londoners.

Summer signings Sweeney and Fetu'u Vainikolo both started in the back division, whilst up front the experience was provided by Welsh international Craig Mitchell, James Phillips and Kai Horstmann.

For the visitors, they too came with a more than useful looking outfit which included established names such as James Johnston, Mouritz Botha, George Kruis, Justin Melck and skipper Nils Mordt.

It was, however, one of Exeter's young guns, winger Sam Blanchet, who took centre stage in the opening throws of the contest as he was on hand to race clear from Nathan Earle to claim the home side's opening try.

Fly-half Sweeney slotted the extras to that score before then adding a penalty as the Braves eased into a 10-0 lead inside the opening quarter.

Saracens needed a response and after some sustained pressure inside the home 22, their efforts were finally rewarded when prop Richard Barrington collected a pass off Spencer to run in by the home posts. Spencer converted the extras to make it 10-7.

The Braves, however, were impressing and with the forwards happy to lead the charge up front, a period of pressure brought success when Welsh international Sweeney was able to land successive penalties for repeated infringements by the visitors.

But no sooner had the Braves given themselves a healthy buffer, then they allowed Saracens to claim a second try on the stroke of half time. A loose pass from Phillips was gobbled up by Tevita Manumua, who preceded to race down the right flank towards the line. Thankfully, a crucial last-gasp tackle from Will Chudley denied the Tongan, but the visitors recycled the ball at pace back along their line to centre Sam Stanley, who made no mistake in touching down in the other corner.

HALF TIME EXETER BRAVES 16 SARACENS STORM 12

On the resumption the Braves wasted little time in getting back up to speed as they took just two minutes to claim their second try of the night. Having initially probed down the left touchline through Vainikolo and Sam Hill, the ball was worked back inside through Chudley to Mitchell and then Horstmann, who made no mistake as he powered over under the posts for the score, which Sweeney duly converted.

Instead of building on their impressive start, the Braves sat back and they were hit with a double-whammy from the visitors in as many minutes. First winger Nathan Earle made the most of a spilled Exeter ball on halfway to dance his way right through the heart of the home defence; then full-back Ben Ransom followed him over the whitewash as again he capitalised on an Exeter mistake before fly-hacking the ball in front of him and winning the race to the line.

A Nils Mordt penalty further extended the visitors' lead, before the Braves countered with a hefty blow of their own as determined work in attack set the platform for England Under-20s starlet Townsend to sneak over from close range for a third converted try.

It was a slender advantage for the home side as they entered into the final ten minutes, but a high tackle by Sweeney offered Saracens the chance to regain the initiative. Again up stepped skipper Mordt to strike a telling blow.

To their credit the Braves refused to lie down and although they huffed and puffed in search of some late reward, Saracens killed the game off with the last move of the match when Charlie Kingsman was on hand to dot down in the right hand corner.

Mordt duly obliged with a testing touchline conversion to give Saracens the ideal start to their A League campaign.

Braves: J Arnott (A Ross h/t); F Vainikolo, H Stevens, S Hill (J Forrester 50), S Blanchet; C Sweeney (capt), W Chudley; C Mitchell, A Spurdle, A Brown; J Phillips, W Carrick-Smith; J Blanchet (T Lowry h/t), J Conlon, K Horstmann.

Tries - S Blanchet, Horstmann, Townsend; Conversions - Sweeney (3); Penalties - Sweeney (3)

Storm: B Ransom; J Wilson, S Stanley, T Manumua (C Kingsman 39), N Earle; N Mordt (capt), B Spencer; R Barrington (N Auterac 58), J Saunders (S Spurling 58), J Johnston (B Alo 77); M Botha (H Springer 71), G Kruis; M Itoje, M Hankin, J Melck.

Tries - Barrington, Stanley, Earle, Ransom, Kingsman; Conversions - Spencer (3); Penalties - Mordt (2)

Referee: D Rose

Attendance: 720