Match Reaction - Ali Hepher
By Mark Stevens
17/12/22
Ali Hepher insists there can be no let up from his Exeter Chiefs side despite a perfect start to their Heineken Champions Cup campaign.
Having kicked off with victory over Castres in their European opener, the Chiefs backed it up with another maximum haul in Round Two, defeating the visiting Vodacom Bulls 44-14 at Sandy Park.
Hooker Lukę Cowan-Dickie led the way for the Devonians as he helped himself to a hat-trick of tries, but there were further touchdowns for Dave Ewers, Henry Slade and Solomone Kata.
Head coach Hepher was naturally delighted with his side’s showing saying: “I’m really pleased. The tough bit is backing up those big, emotional performances - and we had one of those last week [against Castres].
“Today, the guys got themselves in the right place to start the game and the quality we produced early on was outstanding. We dominated things, particularly up front, and that allowed us to gethold of the game - with the scrum and the maul - and that laid a platform for us to play off.”
Although the Bulls had started their European campaign with victory at home to Lyon, they were no match for the Chiefs in their first-ever away day in the competition.
“We were pleased we kept sticking at it, especially in that first half,” said Hepher. “We could easily have let things slip, but we didn’t. We fought hard out there and we got our rewards for that. To have ten points out of ten so far, it’s definitely where we want to be. That said, we know we need more points, especially if we want to be amongst those top seeds in the latter stages.
“We’re aware every point is crucial, but today’s result does allow us to go over to South Africa next month on the front foot, be aggressive, and try and pick up a memorable win out there.”
The Chiefs and the Bulls are set to meet once again next month at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria and Bulls coach Jake White is relishing the latest showdown between the two clubs.
The former Springboks coach admitted his side were not at their best in Devon, but was impressed by the display put in by the hosts, who he is tipping to go well in Europe’s top competition.
“They are a very good team and will be up there at the end of the competition, I’ve got no doubt about it,” he said. “The learnings we got out of it is that either you’ve got to be accurate at the breakdown or defend properly – you can’t give penalties away, but at the same time, you can’t give them quick ball all the time as they are good enough to hold onto it.
“Exeter will be there at the end of the competition, and there were some guys who didn’t play today. Hopefully, we will be able to do better against them at Loftus and get a win, and that will put our campaign back on track.”