Hunter hails Chiefs after win

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs went to the top of the Aviva Premiership, for at least 24 hours, as they ran in five tries in their 33-17 home victory over Sale Sharks at Sandy Park.

Scrum-half Will Chudley (pictured below) crossed twice for the Chiefs with touchdowns also from Thomas Waldrom James Short and Tom Johnson.

Fly-half Gareth Steenson, on his 100th Premiership appearance for the Devon club, added a conversion and a penalty, whilst replacement Will Hooley weighed in with a further three points to complete the job.

Fresh from impressing against new England coach Eddie Jones in their last home outing against ASM Clermont Auvergne, now it was the turn of his forwards coach, Steve Borthwick, to cast his eyes on Exeter's growing batch of  England hopefuls.

Rob Hunter, the Chiefs' forwards coach, said: "What matters is the league position in May and if we are still in the same position then, we will all be very pleased. We have a bit of a breather before the next game, the lads can go back to their families for a day.

"We have some players that have been pretty outstanding over the first third of the season and I think that it is important that these guys remember that it is consistency that counts and not one-off performances."

The conditions certainly had a big impact on the game Hunter wasn't too worried when the sides were level at 10 points each going into the break as the last three or four games at Sandy Park have been played in similar blowy conditions.

Hunter added: "It would be quite nice to play the odd game in the sun because what we always say to guys about coming to Exeter is that we are on the British Riviera but we have got quite use to playing in these conditions.

"If you are playing into the wind, it is very hard work but if you are in touch in or around half time then you have a chance. It is really difficult for both sides to play into that because the throwing and the kicking just goes out the window."

The Chiefs have only lost once at Sandy Park during 2015 when they were beaten 26-25 by Gloucester in January, but Hunter is wary about the fortress tag as the Chiefs face Gloucester again in their next home outing on January 9.

He added: "That label is very nice for our supporters because when they come here we want to ensure that their see their side play well and winning. We have a good record here because of what we do on the pitch.

"We have a bit to work on after this game especially as we travel to Northampton Saints on New Year’s Day, and they lost today, so they will be keen to put on a show for their supporters."

For Sale, who have only won two of their seven Premiership games this season, Will Addison and Josh Beaumont crossed the whitewash with Danny Cipriani converting both and adding a penalty.

Steve Diamond, the Sale director of rugby, said: "We were in it for sixty minutes, but then a bit of inexperience and lack of composure let us down. We were probably worthy of a bonus point, but those conditions [we played in] were hard.

"Exeter have a dominate drive but we managed to nullify that; the scrum went well, but we are just missing a little bit of skills at the highest level. Overall, I'm reasonably pleased but we just lost that arm-wrestle."