Chiefs 31 Wasps 17
Exeter Chiefs 31
Wasps 17
Mark Stevens at Sandy Park
If this was the first real acid test of Exeter’s title credentials this season, then the Chiefs passed it with flying colours, brushing aside the attentions of visiting Wasps at Sandy Park.
Rob Baxter’s side maintained pole position in the Aviva Premiership with a powerful, five-try victory that will have been noted with interest across the division by their top flight rivals.
Winger Olly Woodburn continued his rich vein of form with another brace of tries, while there were further touchdowns for Dave Dennis, Don Armand and Shaun Malton. Skipper Gareth Steenson completed the job with the remaining points coming from his trusty right boot.
Wasps countered with tries of their own through Ashley Johnson and Josh Bassett, plus seven points from Jimmy Gopperth, but it proved insufficient as their long wait for a win at Sandy Park continues into the future.
Having secured their second maximum haul of the season at Worcester the week previous, Baxter stuck with a largely unchanged line-up for the first meeting of the season between last season’s top two sides.
Injuries to Jack Yeandle and Phil Dollman meant Elvis Taione and Lachie Turner were brought into the starting XV, as was Exeter-born second row forward Sam Skinner, who like Taione, was making his first-ever Premiership start for the Chiefs.
Meanwhile, Wasps - who saw their 20-game unbeaten home run come to an end when they lost to Harlequins - made a handful of changes, most notably recalling fly-half Gopperth, who was last season’s Premiership Player of the Year.
The prolific points-scoring Kiwi formed a new-look half-back pairing alongside Joe Simpson, whilst there were also stars for Matt Symons and Ashley Johnson in the pack and Juan De Jongh and Josh Bassett in the back division.
With personnel in place and a near capacity crowd in attendance, it was the hosts who flew out of the trap. In a ferocious opening five minutes to the contest, the Chiefs threw everything at their rivals in a savage attacking onslaught.
Wasps - to their credit - did well to repel Exeter’s opening blast, but they could do nothing when they threatened just minutes later. Having won a penalty deep inside the Wasps 22, the Chiefs opted for a kick to the corner. The initial drive was thwarted by the visitors, but when White released the ball to Steenson, the home skipper offloaded to Turner, who in turn fed Woodburn to go over for his fourth try in as many games.
Home cheers proved short-lived, however, as Wasps countered almost immediately, stinging the Devonians with a score which, to be honest, was pretty much gifted wrapped for them by their hosts. A loose Exeter line-out was gleefully lapped up by South African Johnson, who with the freedom of Sandy Park, galloped his way to the line unopposed.
Gopperth converted that score and then put his side in front for the first time when he slotted a routine penalty after the Chiefs had been pulled up by referee JP Doyle for taking a man out off the ball.
On home soil, Baxter’s side are a force to be reckoned with and with their juggernaut pack running riot, it came as no surprise when the home side bagged their second try of the afternoon. Again the line-out provided the foundation for the score, the Chiefs surprising the Midlanders with another slick move that released Dennis to power over for his maiden score in Premiership Rugby.
With little to choose between either side, the Chiefs were dealt an untimely blow midway through the half when in-form No.8 Sam Simmonds was stretchered from the field following a hefty collision with opposite number Nathan Hughes.
Although forced to re-jig the back-row slightly, the home side continued to pile forward in numbers. Exeter’s forwards were causing no end of problems with their hard-running through the middle, then when it went wide, the Chiefs backs were looking equally effective.
And it was from those very tactics that the ‘Men in Black’ added a third try. The forwards did the donkey work, before it was fed out to the back line where Slade - who was having a storming first 40 minutes - looped a pass to Armand, who brushed aside the attentions of Rob Miller to score in the right-hand corner.
Steenson bagged a stunning touchline conversion, drifting it back in on the wind, before adding the extras to Exeter’s fourth try on the stroke of half time. Woodburn was again the beneficiary, finishing off under the posts, after Slade has broken clear of the Wasps shackles to offer him a simple pop pass finish.
HALF TIME EXETER CHIEFS 24 WASPS 10
The half time break could not have been bettered timed for the visitors and their Director of Rugby Dai Young, who will have used the 15-minute interval to regroup his players after they were hit with a hefty double blow from the Chiefs.
Up against the wind, Wasps started brightly enough with Johnson and Haskell both threatening the home defensive line. The Chiefs, however, manfully stood to the task, before they were able to clear their lines through the boot of Slade after Simpson had taken out Nic White illegally as he looked to pick from the base of a scrum.
Exeter’s defensive line was holding up well under some prolonged Wasps pressure. To a man, the Chiefs were throwing themselves into some heavyweight collisions. More often than not, the visitors were feeding off scraps, but when replacement prop Tomas Francis got a little excited at one particular ruck, it allowed Gopperth another shot at goal.
Positioned centre field, Gopperth stepped forward with the resultant kick, but the normally lethal marksman pulled his kick wide of the target, much to the joy of the home faithful.
Francis helped atone for his error just moments later, winning a scrum penalty that allowed the Chiefs to again position themselves deep behind enemy lines. Wave upon wave of attack battered at the Wasps line, the results of which resulted in Doyle saying the home charge had again been held up on the line.
The first five-metre scrum resulted in yet another penalty for the Chiefs, as did the second, while the third ended in a mass of bodies. The fourth saw Armand pick from the base, before his fellow forwards joined the party. The expected onrush towards the line ensued, before Stu Townsend fed the ball to Malton, who drove low and hard over the whitewash for the converted score.
Three converted scores adrift, Wasps needed to summon a response of sorts. This they did almost immediately as Simpson’s incisive break saw him break clear of the Exeter cover, before offloading to the waiting Bassett, who was able to cross in the left corner. Gopperth converted from wide on the left to give his side a fighting chance.
The score may have momentarily revived Wasps, but the Chiefs were in no mood to let off as the game entered its final throws. Instead, Baxter’s side adopted a simple game plan, one in which they didn’t try to over elaborate things too
Debutant Toby Salmon and Mitch Lees both tried to bulldozer their way over the line late on, while Townsend himself came within a whisker of sniping over from close range.
The fact the Chiefs only scored one try in the second period was largely irrelevant, the real damage had been done much earlier. For Baxter and Co, it's onto Leicester next Saturday where the Tigers will lie in wait.
Chiefs: L Turner; J Nowell, H Slade (M Bodilly 78), I Whitten (T Hendrickson 78), O Woodburn; G Steenson (capt), N White (S Townsend 50); C Rimmer (B Moon 50-73), E Taione (S Malton 50), H Williams (T Francis 50); M Lees, S Skinner; D Dennis (T Salmon 65), D Armand, S Simmonds (J Salvi 24).
Tries - Woodburn (2), Dennis, Armand, Malton; Conversions - Steenson (3)
Wasps: R Miller (M Watson 61); C Wade, E Daly, J De Jongh (B Macken 61), J Bassett; J Gopperth, J Simpson (C Hampson 69); M Mullan (S McIntyre 26), T Cruse (J Willis 56), J Cooper-Wooley (M Moore 55, J Cooper-Wooley 73); J Launchbury (capt, W Rowlands 39-40), M Symons; A Johnson, J Haskell (T Young 52), N Hughes.
Tries - Johnson, Bassett; Conversions - Gopperth (2); Penalty - Gopperth
Referee: J-P Doyle
Attendance: 11,858