Chiefs beaten by Harlequins

Chiefs 29 Harlequins 30

Exeter Chiefs saw their hopes of lining up alongside Europe’s elite next season finally ended as a late Tom Guest have Harlequins a narrow victory in a pulsating encounter at Sandy Park.

The Quins’ replacement crossed with just minutes remaining to ensure the Londoners – who had not led until that point – not only headed back to the capital with all five points, but at the same time kept alive their own hopes of being in the Aviva Premiership’s end of season play-offs.

It was indeed a bitter pill to swallow for the Chiefs who, it has to be said, were much improved on their last home outing when they suffered a record top flight loss to Sale Sharks.

For head coach Rob Baxter, a summer of assessment and reflection now awaits following their final run-out at Newcastle Falcons this Saturday, but he will at least take heart from this latest display which did at least underline some of the traditional Exeter values of hard work, grit and determination.

Dave Lewis and Matt Jess both crossed for Exeter tries, whilst fly-half Gareth Steenson did the remainder of the damage with 19 points from his trusty right boot.

However, Harlequins were always able to stay in touch as their own playmaker, Kiwi ace Nick Evans, helped himself to half of his side’s points, while Ugo Monye, Danny Care and Guest completed the scoring with a try apiece.

Having had a fortnight to wallow in the disappointment of the loss to Sale, the Chiefs came into this game having made four changes to their line-up. All of them came up front where Carl Rimmer, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Hoani Tui formed a new front-row and skipper Dean Mumm was restored to the second row having missed out last time due to a shoulder injury.

Early doors, though, it was Harlequins who set the tone as centre Jordan Turner-Hall threatened the home line with the first meaningful attack of the game after just four minutes of play. Unlike the Sharks game, the Chiefs defence was proving much tougher to crack and having absorbed the early pressure, Exeter ventured down field to claim the opening points on seven minutes when Steenson slotted the first of five penalties after hooker Dave Ward was penalised for coming in at the side of the ruck.

Not long after and Ward – along with Joe Marler – were both pulled up by referee Andrew Small for straying offside. This time, Steenson punted to the corner and from the resultant line-out, the Chiefs drove off Damian Welch’s catch to set-up Lewis, who was able to snipe off the back of the maul and under the sticks for the converted try.

It was seemingly the perfect opening quarter for the Chiefs, but straight from the restart they allowed their rivals to regather possession, work the ball through a series of phases to returning winger Monye, who did the rest as he simply brushed aside the attentions of Steenson to score in the right-hand corner.

*Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency

Referee: A Small

Attendance: 10,199

UP NEXT FOR THE CHIEFS: v Newcastle Falcons (A), Aviva Premiership, Saturday, May 10 (3.15pm)

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