Hunter hails his Chiefs after win
By Mark Stevens
29/4/18
Exeter Chiefs forwards coach Rob Hunter praised his side after their 34-19 victory over visiting Sale Sharks assured them of top spot in this season’s Aviva Premiership.
The defending champions notched up their 16th league win of the season thanks in the man to tries from Nic White, Lachie Turner, Jack Yeandle and Greg Holmes.
Playmakers Joe Simmonds and Gareth Steenson completed the job for the Devonians, who wrap up the regular season with a trip to Harlequins next Saturday.
In reply, former Chief Byron McGuigan helped himself to a brace of tries, while Russian international Andrei Ostrikov also found his way over the whitewash in an entertaining encounter.
Victory for the Chiefs, however, means that next-best Saracens cannot overtake them at the summit, even if they were to beat London Irish and Gloucester in their final two games.
Post-game, Hunter said: “Its really nice to secure a top-spot finish, not many of us have done it before, if any in the squad, so that’s pretty cool. Sadly, we don’t get anything for it. If we could stop the season now and say, let’s change it, the people who come top win it, that would be great, but it’s not like that!
“It will be great for this evening, and then we will have to prepare well to beat a wounded Harlequins next week and, of course, if we mess up in the semi-final in three weeks’ time, it doesn’t mean anything.”
The Chiefs, though, had too much for the Sharks in this latest fixture and secured yet another league double against Steve Diamond’s visitors.
“We weren’t at our best early on and we were a bit frustrated at half time,” admitted Hunter. “It is a bit of a funny situation that none of us have been in before, having the home semi-final done and dusted with two games to go, so it is just a little bit of a change of mindset for us and making sure we get focused and put in a good performance, and we were pretty happy wit how it went in the second half.”