Leicester Tigers 31 Exeter Chiefs 27

One thing that’s a given with Exeter Chiefs is that their fighting spirit will always be there in abundance.

The fact they showed it for only 40 minutes at Welford Road was the real disappointment for head coach Rob Baxter, who had to watch his side fight back from 31-6 down to rescue a losing bonus against Leicester Tigers.

Exeter’s hopes of moving back to the summit of the Aviva Premiership ahead of defending champions Saracens were thwarted by an impressive Tigers side, who themselves moved back into the play-off picture with this bonus point triumph.

Fly-half Freddie Burns converted all four of the home side’s tries, which came courtesy of a penalty try and touchdowns for Manu Tuilagi, Peter Betham and Adam Thompstone, as well as adding a first half penalty.

However, the Chiefs countered with converted scores of their own through Dave Lewis, Ian Whitten and Kai Horstmann, as well as two penalties from fly-half Gareth Steenson. Fresh from a derby day win over Bath, the Chiefs arrived in the East Midlands having made five changes to their winning formula.

Three of them came in the front-row as Baxter took the opportunity to recall international props Moray Low and Tomas Francis, either side of skipper Jack Yeandle, while behind there were also starts for former Tigers’ openside Julian Salvi and Matt Jess was brought in on the right wing. Leicester, meanwhile, also made a glut of changes to their starting line-up from that which had comprehensively dispatched of lowly London Irish.

They recalled international stars Logovi’i Mulipola, Vereniki Goneva and Peter Betham to the fold, while they were also forced into a late change at full-back when Mathew Tait was ruled out with a groin injury, so Tommy Bell stepped into the fray to fill the anchor slot.

With personnel in place for both sides, it was the Chiefs who offered the game’s first meaningful attack when Yeandle collected in midfield and tore through the heart of the home defence with just three minutes of the contest having elapsed.

The move, however, came to nothing and it was the Tigers who were the next to threaten, England international Tuilagi introducing himself to the masses with a bone-crunching hit on Exeter’s Phil Dollman, who was celebrating his 100th Premiership start for the Devon club.

Dollman happily survived unscathed on this occasion, as did winger James Short who was then tested with a series of ‘hanging bombs’ from the boots of Messrs Burns and Bell.

The tactic of testing the Chiefs back three was one they had clearly been working on, but the visitors manfully dealt with the threat in an action-packed opening to the game.

The Tigers, though, continued to push forward in attack and eventually the game’s deadlock was broken on 16 minutes when Burns plundered a long-range penalty after Low was penalised for not rolling away at the tackle area.

Home cheers proved short-lived as within two minutes Steenson restored parity with a successful penalty of his own after Lachlan McCaffrey was singled out by referee Matt Carley for infringing at a ruck in front of his own posts.

With little to choose between either side, the Chiefs were lucky to escape when Jess deliberately knocked down a pass intended for Goneva.

Not only did the winger avoid a potential yellow card, but Bell pulled the testing penalty chance from on the left touchline wide of the far post.

But whereas Jess escaped the wrath of the officials, sadly the same fate did not fall on former Tiger Geoff Parling, who was banished to the sin-bin for a professional foul as he looked to defend a Leicester line-out.

Initially Carley was unsure of the grounding made by Thacker, but having consulted with the TV match official, not only did he banish the England and British Lions star to the cooler for ten minutes, but he also awarded a penalty try.

Burns landed the extras to that score and Leicester’s second try, which arrived just two minutes later.

Turning over an intended Steenson pass, the Tigers ruthlessly cut loose initially down the left before shifting the ball back across their inside line to Tuilagi, who was able to coast over with little resistance.

Up against it, the Chiefs did at least finish the half on the front foot and a sustained spell of pressure was duly rewarded with the final action of the half when Steenson slotted a second penalty.

Half time: Leicester Tigers 17 Exeter Chiefs 6