Exeter Chiefs 44 London Irish 24

Exeter Chiefs 44 London Irish 24 Mark Stevens at Sandy Park Exeter Chiefs rediscovered their winning habit at just the right time as they swot aside the attentions of visiting London Irish with a powerful display to remain amongst the frontrunners in this season’s Aviva Premiership.

Rob Baxter’s side ran in five tries courtesy of Carl Rimmer, Damian Welch (2), Henry Slade and Don Armand, while fly-half Gareth Steenson slotted a further 19 points courtesy of five conversions and three penalties.

In a one-sided first period, all Irish could muster in terms of a score was a solitary penalty from Shane Geraghty. However, late tries from Blair Cowan (2) and Andrew Fenby did at least give them a crumb of comfort from their day out in the Westcountry.

Undone at winless Newcastle Falcons the week previous, the Chiefs made four changes to their starting line-up for the visit of the Exiles to Devon.

In the pack, Rimmer and Mitch Lees were both included in place of Ben Moon and Ben White, whilst behind the back division was bolstered by the return of Sam Hill and Jack Nowell with Ian Whitten and Tom James dropping to the bench.

Irish, meanwhile, also tweaked their squad from that which had lost at home to defending champions Northampton Saints. In the back-row Tom Guest was given the nod over Blair Cowan, whilst behind Eamonn Sheridan came into the centre and the experienced Topsy Ojo was given the nod on the left wing.

From the outset, though, it was Baxter’s side who set the attacking tone with a rousing opening that almost brought them reward with just four minutes played.

With the visiting defence napping following the award of a penalty, scrum-half Will Chudley came within a whisker of pouncing as he tapped from close range, only to be thwarted by a sea of Irish defenders.

The wait for points, however, did not take long as Steenson opened his account for the afternoon by slotting a penalty after Irish had strayed offside in midfield.

Irish levelled almost immediately when straight from the restart, the Chiefs made a hash of collecting Geraghty’s hanging kick and from the resulting penalty the visitors pounced.

Using the penalty to kick to the corner, the Londoners worked their way through a series of close-range drives, before referee Ian Tempest awarded them a penalty from which former England international Geraghty was able to strike.

It would be the only bright spot for Brian Smith’s side in a half which was dominated by the power, pace and precision of their league rivals.

Prop Rimmer roared over for the opening try of the game on 17 minutes as he galloped onto a pass from Chudley to score by the sticks; then Steenson was able to add the extras to Exeter’s second touchdown when Slade raced in under the posts following yet more good approach work from Rimmer and skipper Jack Yeandle.

Steenson’s metronomic boot merely piled on the pressure for the Exiles as he stretched the home lead to 23-3 with two successful penalties; then with virtually the last move of the opening 40 minutes, lock Welch got in on the scoring act when he was able to latch onto a pass from eight metres out to add a third converted try.

HALF TIME EXETER CHIEFS 30 LONDON IRISH 3