The domestic season is still young but the evidence that Exeter will be serious Premiership challengers is mounting. On this occasion it was the Chiefs’ defence that caught the eye, their collective commitment driving a frustrated Leicester side to distraction. The hosts now sit second in the table and will take some shifting.
Since narrowly losing their opening game in Bath, the Chiefs have scored 13 tries and conceded just one. They mislaid some of that momentum in the third quarter but 13 first half points from their captain Gareth Steenson ultimately provided a healthy cushion. This win, their first intheir last seven meetings with the Tigers, will be all the sweeter given the presence of ex-Leicester men Julian Salvi, Thomas Waldrom and the currently injured Geoff Parling in an increasingly strong squad.
It was only Leicester’s second away defeat in the league since January but they could have few complaints. Exeter seized early control through Steenson’s sixth-minute try, defended determinedly and played like a side full of confidence. Jack Nowell was noticeably sharp and his forwardswith Salvi and Luke Cowan-Dickie prominent, gave the Tigers precious little. Steenson’s score, after a close-range line-out drive had faltered, made life even harder for the visitors on a mild Devon evening.
Leicester’s best player was not hard to spot. Telusa Veainu made a big impact for Tonga at this same venue and again looked a constant, weaving threat whenever he received the ball. Otherwise the Tigers struggled to create many scoring chances apart from a fine 40-metre burst from Adam Thompstone, spoiled only when the winger lost control of the ball as he sought to touch it down over the line.
The Chiefs’ 13-3 half-time advantage could have been even more wider had Ian Whitten not knocked on with a developing overlap outside him. The set-pieces were always going to be a key battleground, particularly following the late withdrawal of the regular Exeter loose-head Ben Moon, but gone are the days when Leicester comprehensively squeeze all-comers at source.The 21-year-old Alec Hepburn, part of England’s World Cup-winning under-20 side two years ago, proved a more than adequate replacement for Exeter and only in the line-out did the Tigers enjoy much joy.
Could the visitors mount any kind of comeback? Among the interested onlookers was the Chiefs’ former captain Dean Mumm, a participant in the World Cup final with Australia last weekend and now back in town visiting old haunts, who will have noted the continuing strides his former team are making in his absence. It took a fine tap tackle by Thompstone to deny James Short a breakaway try and an increasingly fired-up Chiefs scrum forced a 74th-minute penalty from Steenson – the fly-half’s third of the night – to settle any faint nerves. Nowell had a potential further try ruled out but another Steenson penalty and the sin-binning of prop Riccardo Brugnara completed a less-than-bright night for the Tigers. Exeter, with Europe looming, have been beaten only once at Sandy Park in the league since last September.
