More woe for Exeter Chiefs

A winter of woes shows no sign of abating for Exeter Chiefs after they slipped to a fourth successive Aviva Premiership defeat.

Shane Geraghty’s dramatic drop-goal – with the last kick of the game – gave London Irish only their fourth win of the campaign and ensured yet more heartache for Rob Baxter and his team who have yet to win in 2015.

Having fought back from 22-13 down entering into the final quarter, the Chiefs were unable to make it stick at the vital time and it was the Exiles who were able to celebrate their first victory in six against their Devon rivals.

Chief tormentor for the home side was former Cornish Pirates flanker Blair Cowan, who claimed two tries on his return to top flight action, while Tom Guest and Alex Lexington all crossed for tries on the day.

Fly-half Geraghty slotted a conversion and the all-important drop-goal, whilst replacement Tom Homer completed the home scoring with a second half penalty.

For the Chiefs, Dean Mumm and Dave Ewers crossed for tries, both of which were converted by Gareth Steenson who also added four penalties, but it was sadly not enough on the day. Undone for a third successive week in the top flight last time out against Gloucester, Baxter made four changes to his starting line-up for their latest away-day.

All of them came up front where Carl Rimmer and Tomas Francis were given the nod in the front-row; Damian Welch took over from the injured Mitch Lees in the second-row, and Don Armand was also back having missed the last game due to the birth of his first son, Miles.

The inclusion of the quartet meant – with the exception of skipper Mumm – it was the same starting XV that defeated the Exiles 44-24 at Sandy Park back in October.

Irish, meanwhile, were themselves looking to get back to winning ways after they slipped 22-6 at Saracens the week previous. They made five changes in personnel, bringing back Halani Aulika, David Paice and Cowan up front, whilst behind Eoin Griffin and Andrew Fenby started in the centre and full-back respectively.

See more at: http://exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/irish-28-chiefs-26/#sthash.yjZWsX1D.dpuf