Match Report: Exeter Chiefs 54 – 3 Hartpury

A dominant performance at Sandy Park secured a second high-scoring win for Exeter Chiefs, this weekend against Hartpury in the Premiership Cup.

Hartpury opened the day’s scoring within minutes when they went for goal from a breakdown penalty in the Chiefs’ 22. Harry Bazalgette was the man in charge of putting his side on the board.

A perfectly weighted kick from Josh Hodge was the catalyst for Chiefs’ opening score of the day. Hartpury attempted to keep the ball in but the infringement just before touch gave the scrum to Exeter.

A sizeable weight advantage at the set piece saw Chiefs rumble from the five metre line to the whitewash, the ball controlled at the feet of Greg Fisilau. The number eight bided his time before touching down having seen the first blades of white grass. Hodge’s conversion secured the full contingent of points

It was the fullback who was into the thick of the action for the second score as well. The new man Tamati Tua carried the ball into the line before offloading from the floor. Hodge managed to juggle the ball before jinking his way around the onrushing defenders to carve a clear path to the try line. He then converted his own score.

Just a minute later, Fisilau perfectly mimicked his first score for a brace, albeit at the opposite corner flag. With Hodge’s conversion, Chiefs passed the 20-point mark in 26 minutes.

The bonus point came at the close of the first half for Chiefs. Mauling from 10 metres out, as Hartpury were locked into defending the drive, hooker Dan Frost peeled off to the short side to crash over tight to the flag. The conversion attempt from tight to the touchline was the first error of the day at the tee from Hodge.

Half-time: Chiefs 26 – 3 Hartpury

The second half was off to a strong start for Chiefs when Fisilau secured his hattrick within two minutes of action being back underway. Taking a short feed from Richard Capstick on the edge of the 22, the number eight stormed his way through the line to run in the try.

Crashing down underneath the posts, he gave the simple conversion to Hodge.

The next score was from a great interchange between Tommy Wyatt, Will Rigg and Hodge in the wide channel, right in front of the East Terrace faithful. Wyatt made the original break from the Chiefs half, feeding Rigg one-handed on the 10 metre line.

The centre had Hodge on his shoulder for a two on one with the defence and the full back took the pass to run in his second of the afternoon. Another clean kick from the tee put Chiefs at the 40-points marker.

Rigg soon made it more as he bagged a try of his own. Tearing onto a chip kick just inside the Hartpury half, he barged his way through the few Hartpury men who attempted to block his path to become a try-scorer for a third consecutive week.

Hodge then topped up the score with the two-point conversion.

There was an error of judgement from replacement prop Josh Iosefa-Scott as he was shown a yellow card on 72 minutes after frustration boiled over at a breakdown.

Despite being reduced to 14 men, the Chiefs were still able to add to their points tally before the day was through. A great break from Tommy Wyatt was the platform that Harvey Skinner needed to take the support line pass and run in the try – his second in two rounds.

Hodge’s clean conversion was the close of chapter on the day as Chiefs took a second win in Round Two of the domestic cup competition.

Full-time: Chiefs 54 – 3 Hartpury

Chiefs: J Hodge; B Hammersley, W Rigg, T Tua (Brown-Bampoe 63’), T Wyatt; W Haydon-Wood (Skinner 68’), W Becconsall (Townsend 56’); W Goodrick-Clarke (Iosefa-Scott 60’), D Frost (Innard 49’), E Painter (J Roots 47’), R Tuima, R Capstick, E Roots, J Vermeulen (c) (Moloney 45’), G Fislau (Pearson 67’).

Tries: Fisilau 3, Hodge 2, Frost, Rigg, Skinner Conversions: Hodge 7

Yellow card: JoshIosefa-Scott

Hartpury: A Forrester; B Denty, J Edwards-Giraud (Johnson 52’), R Smith, O Holiday; H Bazalgette (McGhie 67’), M Jones (Austin 52’); H Edwards (Gibbons 67’), W Crane (c) (Hunt 52’), O Minnis (Fankah 3’, Minnis 9’, Fankah 67’), C Cobbett, J Davies, S Lewis (Richards-Farr 55’), H Short (Hart 67’), J Hayler.

Penalties: Bazalgette

Referee: Tom Foley

Attendance: 8,445