'It sounds simple but that is the plan every single time'

Exeter forwards coach Ross McMillan believes his side executed their game plan “very well” after claiming a 38-14 Gallagher Prem win over Newcastle at Kingston Park.

A ruthless opening 25 minutes saw Paul Brown-Bampoe score twice either side of Campbell Ridl’s effort before Olly Woodburn bagged the bonus point.

Ridl scored his second try before the break and Stephen Varney struck immediately after the restart, with McMillan praising the start his team made.

He said: “Especially in games that start the way that they did, you have ebbs and flows in the game and it’s hard to maintain that. It’s probably an area we want to make sure we get right again if we get the opportunity to do that.

“The start of the game looked exactly how we wanted it to go. Fair play to our players, they executed the plan very well.”

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Newcastle

14 - 38

Full-time

Exeter Chiefs

All Stats and Data

Back-to-back Prem wins moves Exeter up to third in the table as they aim for a top-four finish.

McMillan was also full of praise for attack coach Dave Walder – a former Newcastle player and coach – describing Exeter’s efforts as “ruthless” and “dangerous”.

He added: “The plan is always to have an aggressive defence. We’re an aggressive defence, we want to get the ball back.

“However we do that, either it’s us or in open play, we want to get the ball back.

“We want to make sure we have the ball and the opposition doesn’t. It sounds simple but that is the plan every single time.

“For us actually with the ball, I was really excited (to have) Dave Walder coming back to the north, his plan in terms of how we launched our attack, I thought we executed that well.

“The guys made sure that for him coming back up here it looked the way we wanted it to.

“It looked ruthless, it looked dangerous, it looked potent, everything the way he has driven our attack this season. They’re really getting behind him.”

Newcastle head coach Stephen Jones admitted his side were given a “mountain to climb” following Exeter’s rampant first half.

The hosts trailed 24-0 after 25 minutes following four quick tries and although Christian Wade responded, they faced a difficult task.

Jones said: “That first half we turned over some ball our discipline allowed them some entries and they got the momentum, got their tails up.

“We just gave ourselves a mountain to climb.”

Newcastle put in a slightly improved display in a slower second half, which saw Connor Hancock cross at the death and Jones hopes his side can learn from their experience.

“We’ve got some really good learnings as a group tonight. We’re blooding some young players,” he added.

“In your career you have those learnings where the ability to transfer what you do in training to be able to showcase your game.

“Our group will be better for this experience. From a coaching perspective I’ll be better for it as well. I know some areas we can push, especially for next week.”