Champions Back On Track With Five Tries

CHAMPIONS Exeter shrugged off the spluttering start to the defence of their title as they handed newly promoted London Irish a punishing welcome to life at the top.

- Mike Sinclair

The Exiles arrived in Devon fresh from their surprise opening-weekend Twickenham victory over Harlequins but found the Chiefs, smarting from their narrow defeat at Gloucester, a far sterner proposition.

Injury-hit Exeter, without a large batch of first-choice players, simply squeezed the life out of the Premiership returnees whose skipper David Paice admitted: “We knew it would be tough and we got taught a lesson today which is a good thing as we know where we’re at.

“There are things we can fix. We lost the physical battle in the first half as Exeter just marched up the field and played clinical rugby but the guys showed their commitment in the second half and worked their way back into the game.”

Three early offside penalties, allied to Gareth Steenson’s excellent touch finding kicks, put Exeter’s catch-and-drive machine exactly where it likes to be as the home side notched up an extraordinary 15 first-half lineouts and the pressure inevitably told on the visitors.