Braves 18 Harlequins 3

Exeter Braves 18

Harlequins 3

Mark Stevens at Sandy Park

Two tries from winger Byron McGuigan ensured Exeter Braves inflicted a first Aviva Premiership A League defeat of the season on table-topping Harlequins.

The Namibian-born winger crossed for a try in each half, while young fly-half Joe Simmonds sealed the win for the Devon with eight boots from the boot.

In reply, Ben Botica slotted a first half penalty for the Londoners, who were thwarted impressively by a resolute Braves defence.

Having notched up successive away wins at Bath and Bristol, it was a welcome return to home comforts for the Braves in their first game of 2016.

Coach Ricky Pellow again assembled a powerful line-up for the visit of the table-topping Londoners, who themselves had arrived in Devon sporting an unbeaten record in this season’s competition.

Up front, Scottish international Moray Low was given a chance to impress on the other side of the front-row, while Kai Horstmann skippered the side from his accustomed No.8 role.

Young half-backs Jack Maunder and Joe Simmonds - impressive last time out against Bristol - were again handed starting roles, alongside the experienced back three trio of McGuigan, Matt Jess and Chrysander Botha.

Harlequins, meanwhile, also paraded a strong outfit for the clash, including recognised first team stars such as Joe Gray, Will Collier, Karl Dickson, Botica and Exeter-born skipper Matt Hopper.

From the outset, it was the Braves who set the early attacking tone, setting up camp deep inside the Harlequins 22 during a powerful opening salvo. It was, however, not until the 13th minute that they finally made their pressure pay dividends.

The forwards did the donkey work initially, powering through a series of attacking raids, before the ball was worked out to the back by Maunder to Joe Simmonds, whose sublime cross-field kick was snared from the night sky by McGuigan, who dotted down with aplomb in the left-hand corner.

It was no more than the home side deserved, but they did have to defend their line shortly after Botica’s clever grubber kick in behind narrowly eluded centre Harry Sloan as he closed in on the try-line.

The threat repelled, back came the Braves once more and having won a succession of penalties, it was from one that they worked a driving maul inside off a driving line-out. Visiting lock George Merrick did he utmost to disrupt the charge forward, but his actions were illegal, gifting Joe Simmonds the chance to slot a simple penalty.

As half time approached, Harlequins finally got themselves up and running when Botica slotted a penalty of his own, this after referee Shane Lewis had chalked off a try for Hopper because of a forward pass.

HALF TIME EXETER BRAVES 8 HARLEQUINS 3

On the resumption, the Braves were dealt an early blow as they lost young scrum-half Maunder to what looked a nasty wrist injury. Into the fold, however, came the experienced Haydn Thomas to provide the link between forwards and backs.

Early doors, though, it was Harlequins who looked the more threatening, having introduced Kyle Sinckler into the fray during the interval. Sadly, the former England Under-20s star lasted just five minutes as he departed stage left following a hefty collision on the Exeter 22.

When play finally resumed, it was Harlequins who threatened again. Twice they won penalties - both of which were kicked for the right corner - but some stout defence from the Devonians withheld their threat, before the Braves were able to clear their lines after Botica over kicked a chip in behind the home backline.

Harlequins were certainly much improved than the first period, but still they were struggling to find a way through the Braves rearguard, which was holding up well under mounting pressure.

At the other end, a rare attacking foray from the Braves saw them make significant inroads with some hard running from Jerry Sexton, Harry Williams and Horstmann, but just as they looked set to pounce, a crucial turnover saw the chance come and go in an instance.

To their credit, both sides continued to pile forward in search of reward, but costly turnovers and handling errors were proving costly. That was until the Braves were awarded a penalty late on,

Youngster Joe Simmonds stepped forward and despite being 45 metres from the target, he drilled a sumptuous kick between the sticks to put his side in control at 11-3.

With a healthy buffer, the Braves wrapped up their night’s work late on when McGuigan pounced on a loose ball just inside the visiting half, before running unopposed to the posts. Simmonds converted with ease to seal the victory.

Braves: C Botha; B McGuigan, M Bodilly, J Jones, M Jess; J Simmonds, J Maunder (H Thomas 42); M Low (B Sturgess 51), S Malton (J Innard 66), A Brown (H Williams 59); J Sexton (D Swain 79), E Holmes; S Skinner, S Simmonds (T Edwards 78), K Horstmann (capt). Replacement (not used): H Cully.

Tries - McGuigan (2); Conversion - J Simmonds; Penalties - J Simmonds (2)

Harlequins: T Swiel; R Nairn, M Hopper (capt, W Stanley 59), H Sloan, S Aspland-Robinson; B Botica, K Dickson (T Tebaldi 61); O Evans (S Aderniran-Olule 19), J Gray (R Buchanan 59), W Collier (K Sinckler h/t, 47); G Merrick, K Treadwell; S South, V Kuenen (D Lamb-Cona 67), A White (H Cheeseman 61). Replacement (not used): L White.

Penalty - Botica

Referee: S Lewis

Attendance: 1,544