Exeter to take closer look at Henry Slade's red card in defeat to Bulls

Head coach Ali Hepher confirmed Exeter would look at captain Henry Slade’s red card in their 39-28 Heineken Champions Cup defeat at the Vodacom Bulls as he believes there could be mitigating factors to take into account.

England international Slade could be facing suspension for the beginning of this season’s Six Nations after a high tackle on Kurt-Lee Arendse, but Hepher believes there may be mitigation as the first contact was with the arm rather than the head.

Slade will also face a hearing, and Hepher said about the decision: “I am not sure what the processes were.

“It looked to me as though the collision was with the arm first and then bounces up towards the head, so we will have a look at it in the week and see what we do with that going forward.

“It probably galvanised us a little bit as well, our spirit was good post that so we were pleased with those guys who came off the bench.”

Hepher was pleased with the spirit shown in the defeat as they scored two tries to earn a crucial bonus point after going down to 14 men.

Josh Hodge, Solomone Kata, Jannes Kirsten and Dafydd Jenkins crossed over for the visitors as Joe Simmonds and Harvey Skinner added the extras.

“I’m not delighted overall but I think the bonus point is very important,” said Hepher.

“Any points in this competition are huge because there is only 20 up for grabs, so I am pleased to fight back.

“We showed good spirit and energy coming back towards the end of the game and we looked the stronger side in that last part.

“We just made too many mistakes and gave away too many penalties, we were a little bit slow on the inside clear and they got over the ball too many times.

“We talked all week that any points are crucial whether you win the game and get a bonus point, or two bonus points or even one. The situation we were in, it was massive for us to come away with a bonus point.

“All in all, we’re pleased to get the bonus point but we have got to learn those lessons around the penalties.”

Exeter slipped down from second place in the table, but hope the try-scoring bonus point could prove crucial in securing a home game in the last 16 with a match against Castres to come.

Hepher admitted two tries either side of half-time were crucial in taking the Bulls clear.

“The scores around half-time were defining,” he said.

“We needed to be tidy on our exit, we scored a couple of good tries in that first half and on our exit we got pulled away from our box kick set up and they got the penalty, pushed us into the corner and got the score just before half-time.

“Then after half-time we forced an error but they got a fly hack on, it bounced their way and good luck to them – they were aggressive in that chase and came up with the ball.”

There was also better news about replacement hooker Jack Yeandle, who left the pitch after a lengthy injury break.

“Jack is alright, he is downstairs talking to our medics so fingers crossed he is OK,” added Hepher.