Exeter beat struggling Newcastle to maintain top-four push
Newcastle began life under new consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond with a 25-16 defeat as Exeter maintained their push for a top-four Gallagher Premiership finish.
The Falcons, who are bottom of the table, could have gone home with a losing bonus point if fly-half Brett Connon had not missed a penalty with the last kick of the match.
The Chiefs suffered a blow before kick-off when England back-rower Ethan Roots picked up a calf injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Jacques Vermeulen.
Newcastle scored a try after only 70 seconds, with winger Ben Stevenson bursting down the left flank and bouncing through a tackle by Josh Hodge to cross in the corner, with Connon converting superbly from the touchline.
A quick tap penalty saw England Under-20s number eight Greg Fisilau reply with a try for the Chiefs 12 minutes later, but Exeter immediately gave away a penalty which was slotted by Connon to extend the Falcons’ lead to five points.
Exeter dominated the rest of the half, with Newcastle’s case not helped by having back-rower Guy Pepper sin-binned for not retreating 10 metres at a quick tap penalty.
However, the only score the visitors conceded while he was off the pitch came in the most bizarre circumstances.
Exeter’s Welsh centre Joe Hawkins sent a cross-field kick towards the corner, where Newcastle full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo dived to brilliantly keep the ball in play. He crashed into the advertising hoardings, injuring himself, leaving Zack Wimbush to stroll up and dot the ball down to level it up at 10-10.
The Chiefs’ forwards controlled the latter stages of the half, with Australia prop Scott Sio and lock Rusi Tuima both powering over from close range in the space of seven minutes to secure the try-scoring bonus point, with Josh Hodge adding a conversion.
Connon added another penalty in between those scores, but the visitors entered the break facing an uphill battle at 22-13 down.
However, they started the second half in bright fashion, and after being awarded a succession of penalties, Connon kicked three more points to put them within six of their hosts.
Entertainment was at a premium as the weather conditions deteriorated, but Newcastle remained firmly in the game and Chiefs appeared in danger of sleep-walking their way into a shock defeat.
When they did muster a sustained attack, Newcastle’s defence held firm, until they lost replacement hooker Brian Byrne to a yellow card for repeated team infringements – there were 27 penalties awarded in the match.
With the try bonus point already secured, the Chiefs opted for the kick at goal, and former Falcon Hodge – having hit the upright with an earlier 40-metre effort – slotted the three points to put Exeter two scores clear and secure victory.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments