Exeter Chiefs upset Harlequins at The Stoop

Exeter Chiefs moved into the play off places when they beat Harlequins 21-32 at the Twickenham Stoop in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday.

Conor O’Shea’s men went into an 8-0 lead through Nick Evans’ try and penalty, but the West Country outfit responded via Ben White’s touchdown and two Henry Slade three-pointers.

Although Evans kicked two more from tee, Exeter’s stand-off added 16 points to give the visitors a commanding 29-14 advantage.

Matt Hopper did cross the whitewash late on for Quins, but Slade scored another from the tee to secure the win and send the away side into the play-off places.

Harlequins have endured a difficult season domestically and went down 37-6 to Wasps in their previous match. Looking for a response to that demoralising defeat, they produced the ideal start.

Discipline let Exeter down in the early exchanges as they saw Ian Whitten and Phil Dollman yellow carded in the first 13 minutes.

Quins duly took advantage through Evans’ penalty before the fly-half exploited an overlap to touch down. However, that was effectively as good as it got for the hosts.

Rob Baxter’s side upped the intensity and went 13-8 ahead through Slade’s two penalties and White’s charge-down try.

The home team’s fly-half did reduce the deficit from the tee, but Exeter went into the break 16-11 in front through another Slade effort.

Director of rugby O’Shea needed a quick response from his charges in the second period but it failed to materialise when the Chiefs’ pivot crossed the whitewash.

Evans’ third successful kick gave the London-based outfit hope but three more penalties by the visiting fly-half eased the West Country club to a superb win, despite Hopper’s late try and a sin-binning for Thomas Waldrom.

Final Score Harlequins 21 (11) Exeter Chiefs 32 (16)

Scorers

Harlequins
Tries: Evans, Hopper
Cons: Evans
Pens: Evans 3

Exeter
Tries: White, Slade
Cons: Slade 2
Pens: Slade 5
Yellow Cards: Whitten, Dollman, Waldrom

Match Officials
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Ross Campbell, Roy Maybank
TMO: Rowan Kitt

Teams

Harlequins

15 Ugo Monye, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Tom Casson, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter (c) 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Jack Clifford, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Mark Lambert.

Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Matt Shields, 19 Netani Talei, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Ben Botica, 23 Ollie Lindsay-Hague.

Exeter Chiefs

15 Phil Dollman, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Jack Nowell, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Henry Slade, 9 Will Chudley,8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Ben White, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Dean Mumm (c), 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ben Moon.

Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Alex Brown, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Tom Johnson, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Byron McGuigan.