Pellow hails Exeter display

By Mark Stevens

Exeter Chiefs skills coach Ricky Pellow paid tribute to a scrummaging masterclass from his pack after the reigning LV= Cup champions marched into the semi-finals of the competition with a win at Newport Gwent Dragons.

The Chiefs had to weather a second half fightback from the Welsh region after tries from centres Adam Hughes, Tom James, Fetu'u Vainikolo and No.8 Sam Skinner had given them the advantage and a guaranteed bonus point.

The Dragons would not lie down however, and scores from lock Cory Hill, replacements Luc Jones and Scott Matthews and full-back Jason Tovey earned them two bonus points, despite a late penalty try for the Chiefs when - not for the first time in the contest - the Dragons scrum collapsed on their own line.

Exeter had dominated at scrum-time throughout the contest with the front-row trio of Brett Sturgess, Elvis Taione and Tomas Francis particularly prominent, winning penalty after penalty as the Dragons toiled under the pressure.

Post-match, Pellow was thrilled with their contribution that not only won them a penalty try, but also had former Chiefs prop Lloyd Fairbrother sent to the sin-bin in the first half for persistently dropping the scrum.

"We are massively pleased with this group of players who have worked hard over this LV= Cup block," said Pellow.  “To book a semi-final place here today in what was a very tough game was brilliant for the guys.

“Obviously we’ll reset again on Tuesday and get ready for Saracens next week to try and nail down a home semi-final. But I am really pleased for the players and the club that we are in another semi-final.”

Ahead of kick-off, Cornishman Pellow had warned that the Chiefs would need to win the battle up front if they were to prosper - and from minute one the Exeter eight went about their job with a real purpose.

"Our forwards gave us a good platform to play off and the front-five scrummage was outstanding,” he added.  "In the second half, the Dragons came back which we always knew they would as they are a big, physical group of players.

“For us to get another penalty try late in the second half through the scrum was testament to that front five. Our set-piece overall functioned very well today and whilst the backs did their jobs very well, I thought the backs were clinical in the first half and had one or two things stuck in the second half - or we perhaps didn’t try to force as much as we did - we could have really pushed the result home earlier.”

Although delighted with the final outcome, Pellow knows there will be areas of the performance that he and the Exeter coaches will need to address this week, but he insists the prospect of potentially sealing a home semi-final should serve as the ideal motivation ahead of their upcoming trip to Allianz Park.

“Of course there will be one or two things that we will need to look at,” continued Pellow. “We know we are now building for a huge game at Saracens. We know what they will bring to the game and how physical they will be, but it will be another big test for this group of players.”