Braves 50 Falcons 14
Exeter Braves 50
Newcastle Falcons 14
Mark Stevens at Sandy Park
Exeter Braves breezed their way into the final of the Aviva A League brushing aside the attentions of visiting Newcastle Falcons at Sandy Park.
In a powerful display from Ricky Pellow’s side, tries from Tom O’Flaherty (2), Michele Campagnaro, Max Bodilly Tom Hendrickson, Matt Kvesic and Toby Salmon helped steer the two-time A League champions into next week’s final against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.
Sam Morley weighed in with a further ten points for the home side, whilst in reply the Falcons countered with tries from Jamie Blamire and Cameron Cowell, both of which were converted by Brett Connon.
With just one defeat in the qualifying rounds, the Braves paraded a strong line-up for this Monday night encounter, including Italian international Campagnaro, who was making his first appearance since August after picking up a serious knee injury in the pre-season game at Cardiff Blues.
He was joined in the Exeter backline by Bodilly, another who was tasting competitive action for the first time in months after he dislocated his shoulder against
The Falcons, meanwhile, arrived in Devon with a mix of youth and fringe first team stars, no doubt with Newcastle Director of Rugby Dean Richards keen to ensure he had all of his frontline stars available for Friday night’s crunch Aviva Premiership clash with Leicester Tigers.
From the outset, it was the Braves who set the attacking tone, taking just five minutes to break the deadlock. With the forwards laying the perfect platform, former Falcon Will Chudley spun the ball out wide to his backs, where it was shipped along the line to Bodilly, who provided an easy offload to O’Flaherty to score in the corner.
Fly-half Morley nailed a sublime touchline conversion to give Exeter the perfect start, but the University of Exeter student was unable to add the additional extras to the home side’s second try, which arrived on 16 minutes courtesy of the returning Campagnaro.
Again, the home side produced hot ball for Chudley, who was able to fling it wide once more to Campagnaro, who bulldozed his way past a Falcons tackler to score in the same corner as O’Flaherty.
Clearly the dominant force, the last thing the visitors needed was for their own errors to be so brutally punished. However, that is what proved the case for skipper Dominic Waldouck, who saw his attempted clearance charged down by Bodilly, who collected the loose ball to dot down unopposed for the converted score.
Three tries soon became four as the Braves hammered home another score on the half-hour mark. Having won a scrum penalty, Morley kicked to the corner, and from the resultant set-piece off the top, it was Hendrickson, who picked a lovely line to skip around Cowell and over the line to make it 24-0.
The Braves could - and probably should - have added to their tally before the interval, but the Falcons held firm under heavy pressure to keep the scoreboard untouched for the remainder of the half.
HALF TIME EXETER BRAVES 24 NEWCASTLE FALCONS 0
Up against it, the Falcons re-emerged for the second half somewhat invigorated by their half time pep talk. They bossed the early exchanges to win two penalties, both of which were dispatched to the right corner.
The Braves did well to repel the first wave of attacks, even winning a turnover scrum when they held their rivals at bay, but when the visitors were afforded a second chance, they made no mistake this time as the forwards formed as a mass to drive Blamire over for the score, which was converted with aplomb by Connon from the right flank.
It was a rare bright spot for the Falcons, who were then dispatched in style with a three-try salvo in just six second half minutes by the Devonians.
No.8 Lawday bagged the first when he was able to dot down with ease from a five-metre scrum - and he was followed over the whitewash by the try of the night, O’Flaherty displaying some dazzling footwork to evade a clutch of Newcastle tacklers to run in from just inside his own half.
Morley converted both those scores, as well as plundering the extras to Kvesic’s close-range effort which arrived just before the hour mark.
Newcastle - to their credit - continued to show their fighting spirit and they were rewarded with a second converted try, this time through Cowell, who showed a decent turn of speed to race clear of the Exeter cover and score in the right corner.
However, the final word went the way of the dominant Braves who, with just over ten minutes remaining, wrapped up their victory and a place in next Monday’s final when Salmon rumbled over from close range to bring up the half century of points.
Braves: M Bodilly (H Skinner 65); J Short, M Campagnaro (H Strong h/t), T Hendrickson (J Caulfield 68), T O'Flaherty; S Morley, W Chudley (J Snow h/t); M Low (B Keast 54), S Malton (J Innard 52), M Street (J Owlett h/t); T Salmon, W Van Der Sluys (S Lonsdale 51); J Freeman (capt), M Kvesic, T Lawday.
Tries - O’Flaherty (2), Campagnaro, Bodilly, Hendrickson, Lawday, Kvesic, Salmon; Conversions - Morley (5)
Falcons: C Cowell; A Radwan (C Willis h/t), T Penny (C Wilson 68), D Waldouck (capt), G Wacokecoke; B Connon (J Matavesi 69), J Elliott; A Brocklebank (C Cade 64), J Blamire (M Newstead 76), J Payne (J Ilnicki 52); A Davidson, N Civetta; M Eames (W Montgomery 69), C Chick, M Davies (T Marshall 69).
Tries - Blamire, Cowell; Conversions - Connon (2)
Referee: A Thomas
Attendance: 1,775