Irish 3 Braves 36

London Irish 3

Exeter Braves  36

Mark Stevens at The Avenue

Exeter Braves made it back to back wins in this season's Aviva Premiership A League as they emerged with a bonus point victory over London Irish at The Avenue.

In another impressive display from the visitors, they ran in tries through Will Chudley (2), Kai Horstmann, Sam Blanchet and Stu Townsend; whilst skipper Ceri Sweeney weighed in with a further points 11 points with the boot.

Irish responded with a first half penalty from Myles Dorrian, but that was their only reward on a tough night in Sunbury.

Having clocked up their first win in the A League the week previous at home to Wasps, it was another powerful Braves line-up that took to the field at Sunbury. Welshman Sweeney was one of three internationals named in the back division alongside Sireli Naqelevuki and Fetu'u Vainikolo; whilst up front the experience was provided by the likes of James Phillips, Kai Horstmann and Don Armand, the latter of whom was making his first appearance for the club following his summer switch from the Stormers.

With such an array of talent on show, it was no surprise that the Braves - who were being watched from the sidelines by Scotland head coach Scott Johnson - started the contest on the front foot. Early work through the forwards saw the visitors gain good territory, the last passage of which saw Irish stray offside and Sweeney was on hand to administer an easy penalty.

Irish responded to the early setback and some enterprising attacking of their own saw them win three penalties in the space of five minutes. However, former Chief Dorrian was unable to capitalise, firing his first kick wide of the mark and crashing his second against the left post. The third penalty, however, saw Irish opt for a quick tap and although they threatened with a raid from five metres out, the Exeter rearguard held firm and were able to clear the danger.

Further pressure ensued from the Exiles before the Braves rediscovered their scoring act with the game's opening try on 24 minutes. Having won turnover ball just inside the Irish half, a clever kick in behind from Sweeney saw home winger race back to cover the danger as Tongan international Vainikolo closed in at a rate of knots.

The danger was far from over and from the resultant five-metre scrum, Horstmann and Chudley combined to send Vainikolo through on the burst. Although the winger was halted deep inside the home 22, Chudley was on hand to spot a yawning gap in the Irish defensive line and he raced in under the posts for Sweeney to convert.

Two minutes later and the Braves were adding a second try of the night, again through scrum-half Chudley, who was able to touch down after Phillips had charged down an intended clearance from Tom Bliss.

Irish suffered a further setback straight from the restart when No.8 Danny Kenny was sent to the sin-bin for a no-arm charge on an Exeter player. But despite the numerical disadvantage, they did finally break their deadlock when Dorrian landed a penalty from wide on the right touchline.

Then, with virtually the last play of the half, Irish should have claimed their first try of the game when Dorrian made the most of a spilled ball from Connor Hartley to send Harry Lightfoot-Brown away down the left flank. But instead of pinning his ears back and racing for the line, he cut back inside for some reason and offloaded to Mason Caton-Brown, who spilled the ball just inches from the line.

HALF TIME    LONDON IRISH 3        EXETER BRAVES 15

The Braves replaced the experienced Armand and Naqelevuki during the interval, but their departures did little to disrupt the visitors who wasted little time in claiming their third try. Using the lively Horstmann, replacement Todd Lowry and Will Carrick-Smith to bash their way through the middle, Irish struggled to handle the wave upon wave of attacks from Exeter.

Such was the pressure exerted, referee Fraser Kirby had little option but to send home prop Richard Palframan to the bin when he deliberately killed the Exeter attack just yards from the line. With the extra man up front, the Braves pack opted for a five-metre scrum rather than the simple kick at the posts - and the move paid dividends as Horstmann went over for try number three from a pushover move.

Now with the bonus point in sight, the Braves continued to turn the screw up front. Again more determined work from the Exeter forwards saw them set up camp in the Irish 22 from which Blanchet was able to dot down after another powerful scrum had got to within inches of the line. Sweeney again added the extras to make it 29-3 just before the hour mark.

Irish did their best to mount a response of sorts, but the Braves were holding firm in defence. Even the sin-binning of Lowry - for a professional foul - did little to deter the visitors, who were more than happy to soak up home side's best attempts to find a way through.

Replacements aplenty littered the last quarter of the game, but by then the job had been done by the Braves, who wrapped up the win when Townsend darted his way over in the closing stages for a fifth try, which Sweeney duly converted.

Now the Braves must ready themselves for next Monday's testing assignment away to Bath at the Recreation Ground (7.30pm).

Irish: E Cox; H Lightfoot-Brown, S Tagicakibau (R Damant 51), M Tamiau, M Caton-Brown (R Nourville 68); M Dorrian (capt), T Bliss (E Hoadley 61); T Smallbone (J Cronin 68), G Ellis (J Oro-Campus 54), R Palframan (R Cano 63); I Nimmo (A Hore 68), S Moore; M Berry, B Cowan (O Currie h/t), D Kenny

Penalty - Dorrian

Yellow Cards: Kenny, Palframan

Braves: J Arnott; F Vainikolo, C Hartley (A Ross 57), S Naqelevuki (M Bodilly h/t), S Blanchet; C Sweeney (capt), W Chudley (S Townsend 54); K Davies (L Chapman 62, Davies 70), J Innard (T Phillips 71), A Brown (D Pullinger 69); W Carrick-Smith, D Armand (T Lowry h/t); J Phillips, J Conlon, K Horstmann (M Bolwell 57).

Tries - Chudley (2), Horstmann, Blanchet, Townsend; Conversions - Sweeney (3); Penalty - Sweeney

Yellow Card: Lowry

Referee: F Kirby