'We're in a good place' - Hepher

By Mark Stevens

Ali Hepher insists Exeter Chiefs are in a good place after climbing to second in the Aviva Premiership table with a record-breaking 74-19 victory over London Welsh at Sandy Park.

The Devon club helped themselves to ten tries on their way to a best-ever top flight win against the division’s basement club.

No.8 Thomas Waldrom took his seasonal tally to 12 with two second half scores, whilst Will Chudley, Tom James, Jack Yeandle, Matt Jess, Henry Slade and Ian Whitten also got in on the scoring act, alongside the award of two penalty tries.

Slade slotted five conversions and two penalties before replacement Gareth Steenson carried on the charge with four conversions of his own.

Welsh - who caused a bit of a stir early on with a sprightly opening quarter - countered with tries from Nathan Trevett and Seb Stegmann (2), plus a conversion apiece from Tristan Roberts and Alex Davies, but it was scant reward for the visitors who slipped to a 17th successive Premiership loss.

Post-match, Hepher admitted he wasn’t surprised by the attacking threat offered by the Exiles early on, but praised his own players for the way they wrestled back the initiative before powering their way to success.

“It wasn’t a shock to us, it was the qualities we had seen on the tapes all week,” said Exeter’s assistant coach. “We knew they were dangerous, but we sat off them early on - which we said we weren’t going to do - and they took their opportunities. When they get their offloading game going, I think they are as dangerous as any team in the Premiership.

“Crucially, we stuck to our basics, we didn’t get frustrated - which was important - and we took our points when they were on offer. We started to build a few tries towards that second half of the first half and it set a good platform for us. After that we readdressed a few things at half time and we certainly improved after the break, our defence was much better and much more aggressive and in the end we got results from that.”

This latest victory ensured the Chiefs ended this current block of Premiership fixtures with an unblemished record, having previously seen off Newcastle Falcons, Harlequins and Bath in as many weeks.

With just five rounds of the scheduled season remaining, Hepher says it was not  only the perfect response following a tough spell either side of Christmas for the club, but it’s set things up nicely for a big end to the campaign.

Hepher continued: “Of course we were disappointed to drop those games over Christmas, but the only way to respond is to take on the games in front of you. To be fair to the guys, they got themselves in a positive frame of mind going into the Newcastle game at the start of this block, hit that well and carried on that momentum right the way through.

“We’ve had tough games prior to today, but this was as tough - mentally if anything else - but we played the right stuff and got the result.

"Looking ahead, we just have to attack the games coming up as best we can. Yes, we’re excited about it because we’re in as good as position as we have ever been in, but as we’ve just said to the guys, let’s get after these games and see where we come at the end of the day.

“We’re at the right end of the table and all the sides at the top won’t fancy playing us that’s for sure. We just have to make sure we take advantage of any opportunities that we get, because we will create them, and do our best to keep pushing on.”

The Chiefs will now switch their attentions away from the Premiership for the next week or so as next on the agenda is their LV= Cup semi-final date with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road next Sunday (1pm).

As defending champions, Hepher says there is a real desire within the Exeter camp to hold onto their crown and although away from home, it’s another big chance to claim a notable scalp.

“It’s another important game in our season for us,” said the coach. “Obviously we’ve said many times the league is our priority, but we’ll look to go to Welford Road and attack the game. Last year we went to Bath and won away in a semi-final, so there’s no reason we can’t do the same again.

“That said, Leicester at home is always a tough ask, but we’ll go there excited, confident and see how we go.”