Irish 23 Chiefs 27

London Irish    23

Exeter Chiefs    27

Mark Stevens at the Madejski Stadium

It wasn't pretty, in fact it was downright ugly at times, but Exeter Chiefs have finally put to bed their Madejski monkey.

Having come unstuck on two previous visits to the impressive Reading venue, Rob Baxter's men dug deep to not only see off hosts London Irish in a keenly contested affair, but at the same time the victory ensured they were also able to claim their first win on the road in this season's Aviva Premiership.

In a stunning opening to the contest, the Devon visitors led 21-3 thanks to tries from Luke Arscott and Phil Dollman, plus the boot of fly-half Gareth Steenson (pictured).

However, that early promise was soon extinguished as Irish hit back themselves with scores from Leo Halavatau and Topsy Ojo, as well as 13 points from their own marksman, Ian Humphreys.

The Chiefs, though, were not to be denied and in a determined last stand, they duly prevailed when Steenson wrapped up the points with a crucial late kick.

Buoyed by two hugely impressive displays in the LV= Cup against London Welsh and the Ospreys, plus their recent top flight victory over Worcester Warriors, the Chiefs were bidding to continue their winning run against the lowly Exiles.

Having opted to rest a number of his more established names in the past fortnight, Baxter welcomed a large percentage of them back into his starting line-up for this crunch encounter.

However, one man retained from Cup duty was youngster Jack Nowell, who was making his first-ever Premiership start.

The Cornish back has been in scintillating form in recent weeks and the Chiefs coaching team duly rewarded the 19-year-old with a start on the right wing in place of Gonzalo Camacho, who was still away on international duty with Argentina.

Irish, meanwhile, were also able to bring back some of their more prominent names, including Tom Homer, Chris Hala'uifa and Bryn Evans after all three were rested the week previous for their cup date with Leicester Tigers.

It was, however, the Chiefs who blasted out of the traps like Usain Bolt in an Olympic final. Just three minutes had elapsed when Nowell, Steenson and Matt Jess combined to good effect to send Welshman Dollman over for the opening try of the game in the left-hand corner.

Although Steenson saw his testing touchline conversion fail to find the target, the Exeter No.10 made no mistake as two quickfire penalties gave the Chiefs an 11-0 lead in as many minutes.

Somewhat shell-shocked, Irish needed a response of sorts and it duly came when Humphreys plundered his first successful kick after Chiefs skipper Tom Hayes was pulled up for a high tackle in midfield.

But no sooner had the home side registered their first points of the day, they promptly gifted their rivals an easy three of their own as Tagicakibau spilled Steenson's restart and a colleague picked up the loose ball in an offside position, gifting Steenson his third penalty of the game.

Three minutes later and the travelling tribe were on their feet again as a clever snipe from Haydn Thomas off the back of a ruck saw him create space for the onrushing Jess, who in turn was able to offload to Arscott who did the rest from 10 metres out.  Steenson bagged the extras as the visitors led 21-3.

It was champagne stuff from the visitors, but they failed to kick on and having allowed Humpheys to add a second penalty; they saw their advantage cut yet further when prop Halavatau was the beneficiary of a rumbling line-out move just five metres from the Exeter line, which Humphreys duly converted.

HALF TIME    LONDON IRISH 13        EXETER CHIEFS 21

Again the Chiefs started the half the brighter, but their Achilles heel was their failure to hold onto the ball as a mounting turnover count began to hinder their cause.

Irish, as expected, were much improved and having repelled the early Exeter raids, they countered with deadly effect to claim a second converted score on 46 minutes when the impressive Humphreys produced a clever crossfield kick for Ojo, who had the simplest of tasks in dotting down in the right corner.

The boot of Humphreys was certainly causing the Chiefs problems and when he added a third penalty just moments later, the Exiles had all of a sudden produced a sterling turnaround which had seemed so unlikely earlier in the day.

Now it was the turn of the Devonians to find a response which, to their credit, they did as Steenson plundered a fourth penalty after Irish were adjudged to have infringed at a ruck on their own 22.

The kicking duel, however, between Messrs Steenson and Humphreys was brought to a halt midway through the half as the latter momentarily departed the scene following a heavy collision. With the Irish playmaker sidelined, it meant last season's Premiership top points-scorer, Tom Homer, was given the kicking duties in his absence. But with his first go at the sticks, the flame-haired full-back shanked his kick wide of the near post and the Chiefs were able to hang onto their precarious advantage.

It was a similar outcome when Homer attempted a second penalty, this time 55 metres from goal, after Exeter flanker James Scaysbrook had prevented the home side from taking a quick line-out.

The Chiefs were certainly living dangerously and having soaked up a large spell of home pressure, they cleverly countered to come within a whisker of scoring a third try through debutant Nowell (pictured). The England Under-20s starlet snapped up a loose ball on halfway, chipped over the top and then won the preceding foot race towards the line. However, just as he went to dot the ball down - the ball squirmed from his grasp and although he flopped on the ball again, the officials deemed it had gone forward and his effort was chalked off.

The territory gained in the raid, however, was crucial and with Exeter camped deep inside the Irish half, they made sure of victory when Steenson landed a fifth penalty - this after Gibson had been singled out for offside - in the very last minute.

With the points in the bag and the Madejski monkey banished, it's onto a home assignment with more opposition from the capital - this time visiting Wasps, who Baxter's men will be hoping to sting with another success story at Sandy Park.

London Irish: T Homer; T Ojo, S Tagicakibau, S Geraghty, A Watson; I Humphreys (S Shingler 58-61), D Allinson; M Lahiff (C Griffiths 75), B Blaney (G Ellis 67), L Halavatau; B Evans, M Garvey; D Danaher (capt), J Gibson, C Hala'ufia (A Gray 69). Replacements (not used): R Palframan, K Low, C Gaston, J Moates.

Tries - Halavatau, Ojo; Conversions - Humphreys (2); Penalties - Humphreys (3)

Chiefs: L Arscott; J Nowell, P Dollman, J Shoemark (S Naqelevuki 58), M Jess; G Steenson, H Thomas; B Sturgess (B Moon 67), C Whitehead, C Rimmer (H Tui 50); T Hayes (capt), J Hanks (A Muldowney 58); D Mumm, J Scaysbrook (T Johnson 67), R Baxter. Replacements (not used): S Alcott, K Barrett, I Mieres.

Tries - Dollman, Arscott; Conversion - Steenson; Penalties - Steenson (5)

Referee: L Apgeriant-Roberts

Touch Judges: R Maybank & A Hughes

Attendance: 7,270

UP NEXT FOR THE CHIEFS: v London Wasps (H), Aviva Premiership, Saturday, December 1 (5.30pm)