Slade's positive approach

Henry Slade thinks the signs are positive for Exeter Chiefs this season after their narrow Aviva Premiership defeat against Leicester Tigers last Saturday.

Having hammered hapless London Welsh 52-0 in their opening match, Rob Baxter’s men fell to a 24-20 defeat against the Midlanders on Saturday.

That came after they led 14-7 with a few minutes to go before half-time, with Dave Ewers and Haydn Thomas crossing for tries that fly-half Gareth Steenson converted.

Centre Anthony Allen had scored Leicester’s try, converted by Freddie Burns, after they had seen wing Vereniki Goneva sent to the sin bin early on.

A couple of soft penalties either side of the break allowed Leicester back into the contest, with England international Burns kicking both.

Steenson kicked one for the hosts, but his second penalty after Ben Youngs’ try for the visitors was only enough to secure a losing bonus point as Owen Williams kicked another penalty late on after Ewers had been sent to the sin bin.

However, after their comfortable success against the newly promoted Exiles, Slade (pictured) was encouraged by the way they held up against Richard Cockerill’s Leicester side.

“We were massively pleased with last week but we were under no illusions that it was going to be a lot tougher this week,” said Slade. “I don’t know how much you could read into last week, but Leicester are a massive team and have been for years and are still one of the top teams in the league.

“We pushed them pretty hard on Saturday and it shows that, if we keep building the way we are, then this season should be good.”

One of Exeter’s issues last season was their home record, winning just four of their 11 home league matches. Five of those seven defeats were by one score, so Saturday’s loss against the Tigers followed that pattern.

However, while last term there was often frustration as Exeter had not fully backed themselves and imposed themselves on the game in their defeats, on Saturday they attacked Leicester from the off.

Slade said: “The effort and the commitment shown by the boys was awesome, you can never doubt that. We’re always right up there in that department.

“We put ourselves in a position to win it, just a couple of silly penalties at crucial times – just before half-time when we were caught offside at the kick chase right in front of the sticks and a couple of other exits – let them back into the game. On the whole, I thought it was a pretty good performance.

“We really tried to attack the game – kicking penalties to the corner and going for it early doors. We carried that momentum through the whole match and we put ourselves in a position to win – in the end it wasn’t quite enough. We were away all pre-season so it was nice to get back here in front of the crowd in the new ground and put on a show for them.”

Slade has had to get used to a new position this season after being moved to outside centre, having played the majority of his rugby as a fly-half.

His partnership with fellow Chiefs academy graduate Sam Hill has looked very promising, with Gareth Steenson providing the wise old head inside them.

“I’ve known Hilly for years now, I’ve played with and against him for God knows how many years,” he said. “We know each other well and it’s nice, now slotting into a new position, to have someone I’m so comfortable with inside me. That helps a lot.”