1
Exeter tune up for La Rochelle test with comeback win against Bristol
Fourteen-man Exeter tuned up for their season-defining Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against La Rochelle next weekend with an impressive 22-21 comeback Gallagher Premiership win against Bristol.
ADVERTISEMENT
The downside for Chiefs is they will be heading to Bordeaux without upcoming lock star Dafydd Jenkins, who was red-carded in the 17th minute for a high tackle on Max Lahiff with the game scoreless.
But the hosts stayed in the fight with tries from departing club greats Ian Whitten and Dave Ewers, and another for Josh Iosefa-Scott, to allow Joe Simmonds to land a 78th-minute penalty to win it.
Bristol scored tries through George Kloska, Joe Jenkins and Yann Thomas, all converted by Callum Sheedy, but it proved to not be enough.
Saturday signalled the end of an era for Exeter as Stuart Hogg, Ewers, Whitten, Joe and Sam Simmonds started their final game for Chiefs, headlining 19 departures from the club come the end of the season, including Exeter’s first British and Irish Lion Jack Nowell, who missed the Premiership tie with a knee issue.
Despite plenty of attacking endeavour, the game was scoreless after 17 minutes until Wales international Jenkins was shown yellow for an upright face-on-head tackle on Bristol tighthead Lahiff, which cut him and saw his match end early.
After close examination from the TMO, referee Craig Maxwell-Keys flashed red to Jenkins and moments later Lahiff’s replacement Kloska powered over from short range.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bristol then wasted a number of chances to extend their lead and Exeter rallied having been thrashed after going a man down six days ago in Leicester.
The Bears repeatedly lost their discipline to allow the hosts to kick deep into their opponents’ 22 and Whitten and Ewers, as both have so many times over the last decade, found their way over the whitewash from close range.
Bristol were first to strike after the break as James Williams exposed Joe Simmonds’ weakness in defence by running through the fly-half before playing in Jenkins to race home under the sticks.
The Bears’ third score was less dramatic, but seemingly crucial as Yann Thomas powered through a gap at the edge of a ruck to put the visitors beyond one score.
ADVERTISEMENT
But a dropped lineout from Bears lock Joe Batley gifted Chiefs a way back into the game as replacement Exeter tighthead Iosefa-Scott gathered the bouncing ball and powered over to make it a two-point game.
And with the weather worsening it was a scrum penalty that earned another departing Exeter great, Joe Simmonds, the chance to slot a 30-metre kick to earn a memorable win and send the home fans into raptures.
Comments on RugbyPass
The first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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 …
31 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!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 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 comments