Some good news at last - Chiefs win against Irish

It wasn’t pretty, in fact it was downright ugly at times, but Exeter Chiefs have finally put to bed their Madejski monkey, writes Mark Stevens.

Having come unstuck on two previous visits to the impressive Reading venue, Rob Baxter’s men dug deep to not only see off hosts London Irish in a keenly contested affair, but at the same time the victory ensured they were also able to claim their first win on the road in this season’s Aviva Premiership.

In a stunning opening to the contest, the Devon visitors led 21-3 thanks to tries from Luke Arscott and Phil Dollman, plus the boot of fly-half Gareth Steenson (pictured).

However, that early promise was soon extinguished as Irish hit back themselves with scores from Leo Halavatau and Topsy Ojo, as well as 13 points from their own marksman, Ian Humphreys.

The Chiefs, though, were not to be denied and in a determined last stand, they duly prevailed when Steenson wrapped up the points with a crucial late kick.

Buoyed by two hugely impressive displays in the LV= Cup against London Welsh and the Ospreys, plus their recent top flight victory over Worcester Warriors, the Chiefs were bidding to continue their winning run against the lowly Exiles.

Having opted to rest a number of his more established names in the past fortnight, Baxter welcomed a large percentage of them back into his starting line-up for this crunch encounter.

However, one man retained from Cup duty was youngster Jack Nowell, who was making his first-ever Premiership start.

The Cornish back has been in scintillating form in recent weeks and the Chiefs coaching team duly rewarded the 19-year-old with a start on the right wing in place of Gonzalo Camacho, who was still away on international duty with Argentina.

For the full match report go to: http://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/irish-23-chiefs-27/