Exeter Chiefs earn rare win over Leicester Tigers

Exeter Chiefs earned a rare home victory over Leicester when they beat the Tigers 19-6 in their Aviva Premiership match at Sandy Park on Saturday.

Leicester had won their last six Premiership Rugby fixtures against Exeter with The Chiefs only two victories over Tigers in the tournament both being in season 2011/12.

Exeter Chiefs were forced into making a late change to their starting XV for the match as Prop Ben Moon failed a late fitness test, so Alec Hepburn stepped up from the bench to fill the No.1 jersey with Carl Rimmer added to the bench.

Exeter put an emphatic end to that run, with Steenson’s early try setting them on their way.

They dominated in the set-piece, with last-second call-up Alec Hepburn hugely impressive in the scrum, while Dave Ewers was also invaluable with his carrying game.

Exeter took the lead very early on, with Steenson making the most of Leicester being dragged out of position in defence to dive over after just five minutes.

Despite being under the cosh for much of the half, Leicester could have been right back in it when Adam Thompstone looked to have scored a stunning individual try. Released by Ben Youngs he left James Short for dead before beating the final cover tackle, but Short got back for a desperate final tackle, and Thompstone ended up dotting down on his leg and knocking on, so the try was disallowed.

Steenson added a penalty late in the half to make it 10-0, but it was quickly cancelled out by Owen Williams.

There was still time for Steenson to add a second penalty before the break as the Chiefs led 13-3.

The second half was well-managed by Exeter, but Williams knocked over his second penalty of the evening to get Leicester back to within a score heading into the final quarter.

A scrum penalty from Exeter with six minutes left enabled Steenson to make the game safe, and the Chiefs thought they had a second try when Jack Nowell crossed but it came back for a penalty after Jack Yeandle had held Riccardo Brugnara in a ruck.

The Leicester player reacted by kicking out, and was sin-binned as a result, with Steenson stretching the lead even further with his fourth penalty to seal the win and send Exeter up to second in the table.

Final Score Exeter Chiefs 19 (13) Leicester Tigers 6 (3)

Scorers

Exeter Chiefs
Tries – Steenson
Pen – Steenson (4)
Con – Steenson
Drop –

Leicester Tigers
Tries –
Pen – Williams (2)
Con –
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee :Greg Garner (85th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Paul Burton and Ross Campbell.
TMO: Geoff Warren.

Teams

Exeter Chiefs

15 Phil Dollman , 14 Jack Nowell , 13 Henry Slade , 12 Ian Whitten , 11 James Short , 10 Gareth Steenson (capt) , 9 Will Chudley , 8 Don Armand , 7 Julian Salvi , 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Mitch Lees , 3 Tomas Francis , 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Alec Hepburn

Replacements ; 16 Jack Yeandle , 17 Carl Rimmer , 18 Moray Low , 19 Ollie Atkins , 20 Thomas Waldrom , 21 Dave Lewis , 22 Sam Hill , 23 Matt Jess

Leicester Tigers

15 Telusa Veainu , 14 Adam Thompstone , 13 Matt Smith , 12 Seremaia Bai , 11 Vereniki Goneva , 10 Owen Williams , 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane , 7 Lachlan McCaffrey , 6 Tom Croft , 5 Sebastian de Chaves , 4 Dom Barrow , 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Fraser Balmain

Replacements : 16 Harry Thacker , 17 Riccardo Brugnara , 18 Tiziano Pasquali , 19 Mike Fitzgerald , 20 Laurence Pearce , 21 Jono Kitto , 22 Peter Betham , 23 Mathew Tait