Gibson hails the Chiefs

By Mark Stevens

Delighted Exeter Chiefs coach Rob Gibson was full of praise for his side's showing as they kicked off their LV= Cup campaign in emphatic style with a 42-15 victory over London Welsh at the Kassam Stadium.

Academy coach Gibson joined Ricky Pellow (skills coach) in heading up a Chiefs side which was made up of a healthy mix of fringe first-teamers and exciting youngsters, all of whom were keen to prove a point at the Oxfordshire venue.

In a contest in which the Devon club controlled for long periods, their efforts were duly rewarded as Jack Nowell (2), Nic Sestaret (2), Will Carrick-Smith and Mark Foster all crossed for tries; whilst fly-half Henry Slade weighed in with a further 12 points with the boot.

Welsh, who defeated the Chiefs earlier in the season at the same venue in the Aviva Premiership, replied with five penalties from former Scottish international Gordon Ross. However, it was not enough to prevent the Chiefs from returning home with maximum reward.

“It was a very, very good victory, but one the boys had to earn. It wasn’t given to them," said Gibson. “It was a close score at half-time, but they dug deep, and the young players showed a bit of flair, and the older players showed some really good leadership qualities. The scoreline perhaps flattered us in the end, but what a scoreline it was!”

With the Chiefs opting to change their starting XV completely from that which had defeated Worcester Warriors the week previous, the chance for other members of the first team squad to go out and impress watching head coach Rob Baxter was there to be taken.

“There are always points to prove and an element of pressure on the players, but they did all they could,” said Gibson. "They [Welsh] played very close to a Premiership side, who had come off the back of beating Bath, so what more could you ask of them?

“I am absolutely delighted with all of them. The young players are coming in and standing up, but I am also delighted from a coaching point of view for the senior players as well. All the talk is of the younger players, but there are some senior players there who battle hard week in and week out, and who have not had a lot of first-team exposure in the last few weeks, so I am delighted for them as well.”

With Welsh narrowly ahead 9-8 at the break, it was not until the latter stages that the Chiefs really flexed their muscles to run out deserved winner.

“It is all about game management, and I think at times it probably got away from us just for little spells,” explained Gibson. “There were just a couple of situations where we took the wrong option or missed a tackle, and it let Welsh back into the game, but fair credit to the lads, there was some exciting play from the likes of Jack Nowell - from all the players to be honest - and they just didn’t give up.”

The Chiefs play their second group match at home to Ospreys on Saturday (5pm) and the Welshmen will be buoyed by their 33-27 victory over Gloucester on Friday night at a very wet Liberty Stadium.

“They are a youthful side, it should be an entertaining game next weekend and I am looking forward to it,” said Gibson. “We couldn’t read much into Ospreys’ game on Friday because the weather was so bad that how they played that game might be completely different to how they approach it next weekend.

“We don’t know what team we will put out yet, but everyone is keen to play and the feeling in the club is good.”