Braves 48 Falcons 15

Exeter Braves 48

Newcastle Falcons 15

By Mark Stevens at Sandy Park

Exeter Braves powered their way into the final of this season’s Aviva Premiership A League with a comprehensive 48-15 victory over Newcastle Falcons at Sandy Park.

Ricky Pellow’s side dominated from start to finish against their North East rivals, running in eight tries to set up a home final against Northampton Wanderers next Monday.

International stars Chrysander Botha (3) and Michele Campagnaro (2) led the try fest for the Braves, while Ben White, Elvis Taione and Byron McGuigan also got in on the scoring act with fly-half Will Hooley landing the remainder of the points with his right boot.

In reply, centre Belisario Agulla claimed both of Newcastle’s tries, one of which was converted by fly-half Brett Connon, who also added a first half penalty. However, it was never enough to trouble the home side who are now dreaming of claiming their second A League title.

From the outset the Braves were quickly into their stride, opening the scoring inside five minutes through Campagnaro. The Italian international was on hand to add the simple finish under the posts after back-row duo White and skipper Kai Horstmann had caused chaos in the visiting defence with some powerful running.

Hooley banged over the simple conversion for the hosts, before the Northerners hit back with a response of their own inside five minutes as Connon landed a simple penalty after referee Karl Dickson penalised the Braves for straying offside in front of their own posts.

It was a rare bright spot for the Falcons in a first half which was dominated by the men from Devon, who added their second try of the night straight from the restart.

This time it was Namibian star Botha who applied the Exeter score, the full-back finishing off with ease after a slick attacking move from the Braves had created an overlap wide on the left.

With the home side ruling the roost all over the park, the crowd of almost 2,500 continued to be entertained by Ricky Pellow’s side, who thought they had extended their lead on 24 minutes through Haydn Thomas.

Although the experienced scrum-half knocked on under pressure close to the line, the wait for a third score was not long in coming. Referee Dickson had spotted the visitors straying offside in midfield and from the resultant line-out kicked to the corner, flanker White emerged from the mass of bodies to rapturous applause following a well-drilled line-out move.

Down 17-3 at this stage, the Falcons enjoyed their best moment of the half just before the break as solid approach work from flanker Joshua Chisanga created the platform for the visitors to work the ball out the back, the fruits of which saw a clever grubber kick dived upon by Agulla. Connon landed the extras to reduce the Exeter lead to just seven points.

The Braves made light of the setback, hitting back again in an instance through the impressive Campagnaro. The former Treviso back was on hand to claim the fourth try of the night, latching onto a pass down the blindside after the home pack had carried out the donkey work.

HALF TIME EXETER BRAVES 22 NEWCASTLE FALCONS 10

Any hopes of a Newcastle fightback in the second period were quickly doused within four minutes of the restart as the Braves extended their lead with their first meaningful attack of the half.

Having positioned themselves deep behind enemy lines with a flurry of attacking waves, the ball was eventually worked out to Botha, whose fancy foot work saw him dance clear of the visiting defence before gliding over for the try, converted by Hooley.

To their credit the visitors did well to put up a creditable resistance for so long, but when Tongan hooker Taione was the next to cross the whitewash, again from another five metre line-out drive, there was really no way back for the Falcons.

The Braves were simply ruthless in everything they did, punishing their rivals almost at will with a succession of attacking moves which more often than not brought reward.

Botha claimed his hat-trick score with ten minutes remaining, finishing off in the left-hand corner after compatriot McGuigan had bulldozed his way past three defenders before popping a simple offload to his team-mate to make it 41-10.

In a brief foray forward for the Falcons, Alesana Tuilagi was thwarted by some great cover defence from the Braves when he attacked down the left flank. Then, with another spirited raid deep inside the Exeter half, the visitors worked the opening for centre Agulla to claim his second of the night, finishing off in the corner under pressure.

The final word, however, went the way of the Braves who - with less than a minute remaining - put the shine on a polished performance when McGuigan, who impressed off the bench in the second half, was able to trot over after Stuart Townsend had taken control of proceedings at the base of a close-range Exeter scrum.

Now, the Braves will be looking to maintain their impressive form in next Monday’s final against Northampton (3pm) - a game which will see long-serving prop Brett Sturgess line-up against his former club in what is likely to be his final Sandy Park outing.

Braves: C Botha; M Bodilly (B McGuigan 62), M Campagnaro (P Laverick 62), T Hendrickson, M Jess; W Hooley, H Thomas (S Townsend 51); B Sturgess (J Woolmore 62), E Taione (S Malton 56), C Rimmer (A Brown 46); O Atkins, L Stevenson (E Holmes 70); T Johnson, B White (S Simmonds 55), K Horstmann (capt).

Tries - Campagnaro (2), Botha (3), White, Taione, McGuigan; Conversions - Hooley (4)

Falcons: D Marshall; G Vendetti (A Redman h/t), B Agulla, J-P Socino, A Tuilagi; B Connon, S Takulua (R Dawson 67); B Harris (E Fry 57), S Lawson (capt, D Nelson 67), K Hatakeyama (A Brocklebank 71); W Witty, H Snowdon (J Craggs 71); J Chisanga (S Ferreira 53), T Clever (S Socino 53), A Hogg.

Tries - Agulla (2); Conversion - Connon; Penalty - Connon

Referee: K Dickson

Attendance: 2,428