Blues 17 Chiefs 24

Cardiff Blues 17

Exeter Chiefs 24

Mark Stevens at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park

Exeter Chiefs blew away the cobwebs of Summer 2014 with an impressive 24-17 pre-season win over Cardiff Blues at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.

First half tries from Jack Arnott, Will Chudley and Sam Simmonds laid the foundations for the victory, whilst fly-half Gareth Steenson weighed in with the remaining nine points

The Welsh region countered with tries from George Watkins, Chris Dicomidis and Ellis Jenkins, the latter two in the final embers of the game, but it was scant reward in a contest that was dominated for long periods by Rob Baxter’s side.

Having bolstered his squad with eight new additions during the summer, Baxter wasted little time in giving two of his new stock their first outing in Chiefs colours. Adam Hughes debuted on the wing, whilst up front the imposing Mitch Lees packed down next to former Blues’ player Damian Welch.

On the opposite side, the Blues paraded former Craig Mitchell for the first time, but the Welshman’s first action was merely to watch on as the Premiership club opened their scoring account in just over a minute.

Welch initially led a raid down the left flank before it was expertly marshalled back across the field - through at least four paid of hands - to winger Arnott, who was able to cross under the sticks for the try, which Steenson duly converted.

Exeter’s lightning start was certainly encouraging and they threatened again moments later only for the Welsh region to this time repel the threat with some smart defensive work.

The Blues, though, countered on seven minutes when having been awarded a penalty just outside Exeter’s 22, former Gloucester scrum-half Tavis Knoyle took a quick tap penalty to initiate the raid that allowed Watkins the opportunity to barge past Arnott and score in the left-hand corner.

Fly-half Patchell delivered a sublime touchline conversion only for Steenson, his opposite number, to restore Exeter’s lead with a penalty after the hosts had been adjudged to have gone over the top at a ruck.

The Chiefs continued to push forward as the half ticked by and on the half-hour mark they added a second try when scrum-half Chudley sniped down the blindside after a well-drilled line-out from the visitors. Again Steenson added the extras to give his side a ten-point lead.

Two more of Baxter’s summer imports were added on the restart as internationals Elvis Taione and Moray Low took over from Jack Yeandle and Alex Brown in the Exeter front-row. But their arrival did little to deter the Chiefs in attack as they added a third try on the stroke of half-time.

Steenson punted a penalty to the corner; the forward won the resultant line-out, before driving young flanker Simmonds over in the left corner. The Irish points-machine added a brilliant conversion from the touchline to put his side firmly in control at the break.

HALF TIME        CARDIFF BLUES 7        EXETER CHIEFS 24

As expected, Baxter paraded a whole new XV for the second half with fellow newcomers Chrysander Botha, Ryan Caldwell and Thomas Waldrom all getting the chance to show the Chiefs coaching team of their undoubted talents.

Likewise, the Blues made a plethora of changes at the interval and it was the home side who started the second period the brighter as they looked to haul themselves back into the contest.

A succession of early penalties allowed them to camp inside the Chiefs 22, but their attack lacked punch and it was their rivals who were able to soak up the pressure before advancing down field themselves with Caldwell, Waldrom and Lewis leading the charge.

Sadly the second half was not of the same calibre as that of the first 40 minutes and although both sides huffed and puffed in pursuit of points, the arm wrestle up front did little to excite those on the sidelines.

That was until the hour mark when the Chiefs slowly began to click back into gear, forward momentum put them to within sight of the home line only for Armand and then Haydn Thomas to be denied a scoring chance by some last-gasp home defending.

As replacements aplenty continued to litter the half, so the tempo of the game continued to evaporate. The Blues did their best to reignite some life into the match in the final quarter, but the Chiefs were proving miserly in defence as they happily soaked up wave-upon-wave of attacks.

That was until the final two minutes when the Blues found their way over for a quick ‘one-two’ of tries. Lock Dicomidis was the first to prosper as he applied the finish when Cardiff exploited the numbers game wide on the right; then almost straight from the restart another hacked kick through allowed replacement Jenkins to collect and dive over.

The late double gave the scoreline a somewhat flattering look given the display of the Chiefs, particularly in the first half, but certainly Baxter will have gleaned plenty of positives from a decent work-out in the Welsh capital.

Next up for the Chiefs is next Friday’s trip across the Irish sea to the Kingspan Stadium where the highly-regarded Ulster Rugby lie in wait

Cardiff Blues: D Fish; R Smith, G Evans (G Smith 64), D Hewitt (C Allen 64), G Watkins (G Smith h/t, ); R Patchell (G Davies h/t), T Knoyle (L Jones h/t); T Davies (S Hobbs h/t), R Williams (E Lewis h/t, R Williams 64), C Mitchell (S Andrews h/t); L Reed (M Normandale h/t, M Cook 67), C Dicomidis; M Cook (R Watts-Jones h/t), J Navidi (capt, E Jenkins h/t)), I Jones (M Vosawai h/t).

Tries - Watkins, Dicomidis, Jenkins; Conversion - Patchell

Exeter Chiefs: P Dollman (C Botha h/t); J Arnott (M Jess h/t), I Whitten (T Hendrickson h/t), S Hill (H Slade h/t), A Hughes (J Arnott 50); G Steenson (C Sweeney h/t), W Chudley (D Lewis h/t, H Thomas 56); C Rimmer (B Moon h/t), J Yeandle (capt, E Taione 29, G Bateman 56), A Brown (M Low 29, T Francis 56); M Lees (R Caldwell h/t), D Welch (D Armand h/t); D Ewers (T Johnson h/t), S Simmonds (B White h/t), K Horstmann (T Waldrom h/t, E Holmes 76).

Tries - Arnott, Chudley, Simmonds; Conversions - Steenson (3); Penalty - Steenson

Referee: W Hennessy

Attendance: 5,466

UP NEXT FOR THE CHIEFS: v Ulster (A), Pre-Season Friendly, Friday, August 22 (7.30pm)