Exeter Chiefs Men v Newcastle Red Bulls

Exeter Chiefs secured their first win of the Gallagher PREM season with a 34-28 win over Newcastle Red Bulls at Sandy Park in round three.

A brace of tries from player of the match Ross Vintcent put Chiefs on the front-foot in the first half. They had to weather a real challenge from the Northerners as their defence struggled at stages, but Rob Baxter’s men held on to seal the win with a try from Bachuki Tchumbadze in the 76th minute.

With not even a minute on the clock, and in his first appearance of the season, Italian international Vintcent charged down an attempted clearance from Newcastle. Regathering the ball, he swooped over the line for five points which Henry Slade converted.

In his first of three trips over the try-line, Christian Wade added to his vast catalogue of PREM tries with a short sprint down the wing after four minutes. His stand-off Zack Henry converted the score to bring the sides level.

Vintcent added his second 10 minutes after his first. Stephen Varney went to the short-side from the ruck, bringing Tommy Wyatt and Slade into the play. They had a clean and quick interchange of the ball to release Vintcent down the touchline.

Recently identified as one to watch in the Newcastle ranks this season, Max Hicks scored the opposition’s second in the same corner as Wade. Henry once more slotted the conversion.

The end of the first quarter produced an impressive solo try from Slade. Slicing through the Newcastle defence on their 10-metre, he carved his way to the line unchallenged before converting his own score.

Frustration reigned for Chiefs when they were reduced to 14 men on 26 minutes. Ethan Roots was the man sent to the sin bin for a late, no arms tackle on full-back Harrison Obatoyinbo, who was quickly replaced by debutant Jake Dalziel.

A minute before Roots was due to return, Newcastle added another for Wade. Utilising a man overlap in the Chiefs 22, the quick-footed winger darted over under the posts to give Henry the simple conversion.

Chiefs took control at the opening of the second half. The pack set the foundations with a solid showing at the scrum. Bringing the backline into the play, Sam Harris – on his first Prem outing for Chiefs – took the final carry to launch his body over at the corner flag for his first Chiefs try. Slade made the difficult conversion from the touchline look easy.

Newcastle responded as Wade scored his hat-trick try, tearing down after a grubber kick and beating Harvey Skinner to the ball. Henry converted the score as Chiefs rung the changes from their bench.

Slade kicked Chiefs into a one-point lead just after the hour. The decision had been made between the centre and his match captain Dafydd Jenkins to go for goal after a penalty was given in the middle of the 10-metre line in Newcastle territory.

As Chiefs supporters held their breath, the home side pulled ahead with less than five minutes to go. The brunt of the Chiefs pack driving for the line from set-piece was too much for Newcastle to withstand and as replacement prop Bachuki Tchumbadze dotted down for the try, Red Bulls lost Adam Brocklebank to a yellow card for an infringement in the build-up.

Baxter and his coaches will have work to do on their defence and discipline, but momentum continues to steadily build in the league for Chiefs as they prepare to take a one week break from the Prem to kick-off their Investec Champions Cup campaign.