Harlequins 10 Braves 27

Harlequins 10

Exeter Braves 27

Mark Stevens at the Twickenham Stoop

Exeter Braves made it three wins on the bounce in this season’s Aviva Premiership A League as they comfortably saw off rivals Harlequins on their own turf.

The visitors ran in converted tries from Jack Arnott, Sireli Naqelevuki and Fetu’u Vainikolo, as well as two penalties from Ceri Sweeney, to keep them on course for the semi-finals.

Harlequins played their part in the difficult conditions, claiming a try through skipper James Chisholm and five points from the boot of Louis Grimoldby, but it was never enough to deny the Braves.

Having collected back-to-back wins against London Welsh and London Irish, it was a powerful Braves line-up that arrived in the capital. Headed up by international stars Sweeney, Naqelevuki and Vainikolo, there was also a decent sprinkling of the club’s up-and-coming stars with starts for the likes of Ed Holmes, Sam Simmonds, Sam Skinner and centres Max Bodilly and Tom Hendrickson.

Quins, meanwhile, were also able to parade a more than useful starting XV, which was bolstered by the likes of Jordan Turner-Hall, Charlie Walker, Rob Buchanan and Jay Trayfoot, on a miserable night in the capital.

Despite the conditions, though, both sides were looking to attack from the outset and it was the home side who edged the initial exchanges with fly-half Grimoldby looking to pull the strings in his role as chief playmaker.

The Braves, however, happily soaked up the pressure and having seen a Sweeney penalty chance sail just wide of the mark on 13 minutes, the Welsh international atoned five minutes later when he fired the visitors in front after Harlequins had been pulled up for straying offside in front of their own posts.

Although it was a slender lead, the Braves continued to push forward and their hard running style was certainly causing problems for the hosts. Jerry Sexton, Alex Brown and Vainikolo all went close with attacking raids, but on each occasion either a spilled ball or some good defensive work would thwart Exeter’s advances.

Eventually the pressure told, albeit off a turnover, as the Braves claimed the game’s opening try with five minutes of the first half remaining. Latching onto a spilled ball just inside the Quins’ half, winger Adam Hughes combined with compatriot Sweeney, who in turn fed the ball to Arnott, whose hack in behind saw the Exeter speedster win the subsequent sprint to the try-line.

Sweeney converted with aplomb to give the Braves a 10-0 lead only for Grimoldby to cut the deficit just before the break when he landed a long-range penalty after the visitors were harshly adjudged to have strayed offside from a line-out.

HALF TIME    HARLEQUINS 3        EXETER BRAVES 10

On the resumption, it was Harlequins who were quickest out of the traps. Winger Walker sounded the initial threat with a chip-and-chase run down the left flank, before the home side pounced with their opening try on 45 minutes.

Having won a free-kick deep inside the Exeter 22 after Phibbs was adjudged to have fed at the scrum, home skipper James Chisholm caught the Braves napping in defence as he stole a march on the cover to power over from close range to score. Grimoldby slotted the conversion to restore parity at 10-all.

From the restart, though, the Braves regained the lead when Harlequins made a hash of Sweeney’s kick, falling offside and up stepped the experienced No.10 to fire over his second penalty of the night.

With the incessant rain continuing to make handling difficult for both sides, the Braves brought on both Dave Lewis and Luke Cowan-Dickie for Phibbs and Greg Bateman. And it didn’t take long for either man to make their mark.

Cornishman Cowan-Dickie’s first impact was to charge down a Grimoldby drop-out, he collected the loose ball and from the ensuing play, the Braves pack came together to drive Naqelevuki over by the posts for a second converted score.

Moments later and the Braves were crossing the whitewash again as they made the most of a driving maul to position themselves behind enemy lines from where Lewis was able to snipe off the back before offering a simple pass to Vainikolo who did the rest. Sweeney again obliged with the extras to stretch Exeter’s lead to a commanding 17 points.

As replacements aplenty were introduced from the sidelines by both sides, so the game began to ease into a somewhat stop-start affair. However, it was the Braves who continued to rule the roost as the visitors took every opportunity to pin their rivals back with a series of kicks in behind.

With the bonus point now in sight for the Devonians, they pressed hard in the dying minutes to try and claim the additional extras. Harlequins, though, were steadfast on keeping their line in tact and despite a late bombardment from the visitors there was to be no change to the scoreline.


Harlequins: R Chisholm; C Walker, H Sloan, J Turner-Hall (A Chisholm 57), J Burns (J Brown 66); L Grimoldby, S Stuart; D Marfo (J Ibuanokpe 71), R Buchanan (C Piper 7-12), S Adernin-Olule; G Merrick, S Twomey, J Trayfoot (C Gossington 59), J Chisholm (capt), H Cheeseman (K Treadwell 63).

Try - J Chisholm; Conversion - Grimoldby; Penalty - Grimoldby

Braves: J Arnott; F Vainikolo, M Bodilly, T Hendrickson, A Hughes (A Wilcockson 64); C Sweeney (L May 64), P Phibbs (D Lewis 52); B Sturgess (J Woolmore 59), G Bateman (L Cowan-Dickie 52), A Brown (J Stanley 57); J Sexton, E Holmes; S Naqelevuki (P Davis 63), S Simmonds (H Ledger 57), S Skinner (capt, H Ledger 7-19, 31-40).

Tries - Arnott, Naqelevuki, Vainikolo; Conversions - Sweeney (3); Penalties - Sweeney (2)

Referee: R Warburton