Sale Sharks 3 Exeter Chiefs 21

Santa Claus isn’t due for another three weeks yet, but Christmas certainly came early for Rob Baxter’s Exeter Chiefs side as they made it three wins from three in the Aviva Premiership.

Devon’s finest moved back into the top four courtesy of an early Penalty Try and first half touchdowns from James Short and Will Chudley, while skipper Gareth Steenson completed the job with three conversions.

In reply, fly-half AJ MacGinty landed a penalty for the Sharks, but that was all they could muster on an evening when the Exeter defence ruled supreme, particularly in the second half.

Despite back-to-back victories over Newcastle Falcons and Worcester Warriors in the past fortnight, Baxter made six changes to his winning formula for the long trip to the North West.
Four of those came in the pack where Carl Rimmer and Greg Holmes were added to the front-row, Geoff Parling was recalled in the second-row, while fit-again Don Armand came into the back-row for his first start since September.

Behind, an injury to Phil Dollman meant Lachie Turner was brought in at full-back, while new father Ian Whitten was replaced in the centre by Sam Hill.

The Sharks, meanwhile, were looking for a response of their own following successive losses to Saracens and Wasps and they made four changes to their starting XV.

Up front, Rob Webber and Cameron Neild were handed starts, as were Johnny Leota and former Plymouth Albion winger Tom Arscott.

Initially the Sharks set the early tone, but the Chiefs manfully dealt with the threat and stung their hosts with the game’s opening points through their own first attacking raid.

Olly Woodburn’s charge down the right flank instigated the attack from which the Chiefs gleaned a penalty. Steenson duly kicked that to the corner and after the first attempt was thwarted when Armand was pushed in the air, the Devonians used their second attempt to strike.

A well-crafted driving maul saw the visitors propel the Sharks back at pace, spewing them out of the side before Josh Beaumont cynically brought it to the floor. The England international was duly dispatched to the sin-bin, referee Wayne Barnes awarded the penalty try, and Steenson completed the job with a simple conversion.

Almost immediately, though, Sale countered with their first points of the night, MacGinty slotting a long-range penalty after the visitors had failed to roll away from the tackle area.

That, however, would be a rare bright spot in the opening 40 minutes for Steve Diamond’s side as the Chiefs ruled the roost for the remainder of the half.

Another driving line-out set the platform for Exeter’s second try, which arrived on 21 minutes. Parling took the ball in mid-air, his fellow forwards applied the shove before Chudley fed Short to dive over in the left corner.
Steenson slotted a sublime touchline conversion to double his side’s lead and he was on song once again five minutes before the break, this time adding the extras to a third touchdown from the visitors.
This time Short and Sam Hill opened up the home defence, the latter with a searing break right through the heart of the Sale midfield, before he offloaded to Chudley, who was able to scamper in from 20 metres out.

Sale did their best to claw something back before the interval, but the Chiefs were proving miserly in defence, gobbling up their every attack with relative ease.

HALF TIME SALE SHARKS 3 EXETER CHIEFS 21