Welsh 15 Chiefs 42

London Welsh     15

Exeter Chiefs    42

Mark Stevens at the Kassam Stadium

Given their chance to shine by the club's coaching staff, Exeter's young and old combined to great effect to give the Chiefs a bright start to their LV= Cup campaign at London Welsh.

In a rousing display at Oxford's Kassam Stadium, the true depth of the current Chiefs squad was displayed in all it's glory as the Devon club produced a stunning six-try success against their Premiership rivals.

Young full-back Jack Nowell led the victory march for the visitors on Remembrance Sunday as he claimed two of the tries in a superb man-of-the-match showing. However, the Cornishman was joined on the scoresheet by Nic Sestaret, who himself added two tries, plus further tries for Will Carrick-Smith (pictured) and Mark Foster.

Fly-half Henry Slade plundered the remainder of their points; whilst all Welsh could muster in terms of a response were five penalties from their own man at No.10, Gordon Ross.

Fresh from their impressive Premiership victory over Worcester Warriors, it was indeed a much changed Chiefs line-up that took to the field in Oxford. Not only was the starting XV completely different, but on the bench there were also a splattering of changes.

Youngsters Carrick-Smith, Justin Blanchet, Joel Conlon and Slade were all handed their senior debuts, whilst on the bench the only player with any significant first team experience was that of Maori prop Hoani Tui, who was included for the first time this season since damaging his hamstring in the pre-season friendly at Glasgow.

Like the Chiefs, Welsh were also able to come into the clash on the back of a decent home win. The top flight's newest additions collected their third win of the season when they overcame Bath in the dying minutes a week previous.

But whereas the visitors made wholesale changes to their team, home coach Lyn Jones stuck with many of his frontline troops, including former Scotland international Ross, who fired his side into an early lead when the Chiefs were penalised for handling on the floor.

That lead proved shortlived, however, as within minutes the Devonians had drawn level. Slade's clever territory kick in behind the home defence had Welsh pegged back and when Exeter turned over the ball in the resulting action, the impending drive got the Chiefs to within strike range.

Sadly as the 'Men in Pink' rumbled over the whitewash, referee Ian Davies was unsighted and opted to go to the TV match official. Likewise, his view was obscured by the mass of bodies on the floor, so the decision was to come back for the penalty which England Under-20s starlet Slade duly dispatched.

With the points on the board, the Chiefs threatened again in attack shortly after as first winger Foster was halted just shy of the line by a saving tackle from Tom Arscott; then skipper Junior Poluleuligaga was pushed into touch as he looked to expose the short side.

It was certainly a let-off for the hosts who, having absorbed a sustained spell of Exeter pressure, trotted down the other end of the field to win a somewhat harsh scrum penalty which Ross duly landed from just outside the Chiefs 22.

Once again home joy did not last long as the adventurous Chiefs hit back almost immediately with the game's opening try. Foster was again involved in the build-up as he burst through a string of Welsh tacklers to set up the perfect attacking platform, the results of which saw Poluleuligaga loop a pass wide to the right for Carrick-Smith.

Still with a little bit of work to do, the 6ft 10in lock cleverly plucked the ball out of the air like a Harlem Globetrotter before propelling himself over the line for his maiden Chiefs score.

Deservedly in front, the Chiefs continued to look the more enterprising in attack with Nowell and centre Sam Hill in particular showing their undoubted talents with some clever running.

However, a third Ross penalty just before the break allowed the Dragons to reclaim a slender advantage, even though Carrick-Smith again went close to a second try with another charging run just seconds before the half time whistle.

HALF TIME    LONDON WELSH 9        EXETER CHIEFS 8

On the resumption, though, the Chiefs were quickly back into their stride as good early pressure allowed Slade - who was shining on his debut - to fire over a sublime 35-metre kick after Welsh had been pulled up for not releasing at the tackle.

Not surprisingly Welsh looked for a riposte of their own, but the Chiefs were standing firm in the tackle and on 52 minutes they stung their hosts again with a super second try.

Hill, another of the club's highly-rated England youngsters, was the architect in chief as he collected the ball deep inside the home 22, before selling an audacious dummy that sucked in at least two home defenders, before popping a pass left to the onrushing Foster who was able to coast over for the converted score.

With a two-score buffer at their disposal the Chiefs looked to kick on in the contest, but two quickfire penalties from the metronomic boot of Ross helped peg the scoreline back as the game entered into the last quarter.

Suddenly it was Welsh who had the hammer down in pursuit of points, but to their credit the Chiefs regrouped with aplomb securing the all-important bonus point with two well-worked tries in the space of three minutes.

First over was Nowell as he rounded off a slick handling move from the visitors in the left corner; then Frenchman Sestaret followed suit as he was the additional man in a well crafted overlap to put the Chiefs back in control of proceedings.

With Welsh physically wilting by the minute, the visitors merely rubbed salt into their already exposed wounds as they added two more tries to boot in a rousing finale.

Sestaret (pictured) added try number five when he scampered down the right flank to finish off a pass from Poluleuligaga; before man of the match Nowell rounded the scoring off when his dazzling footwork allowed him to leave a trail of home defenders clutching air and sprawled on the floor as he glided his way under the sticks.

Slade banged over the resultant conversion to put the seal on a highly impressive display from the Chiefs, who this Saturday will welcome Welsh visitors Ospreys to Sandy Park (5pm).


Welsh: T Arscott (J Ajuwa 66); T Voyce, S Parker (J Lewis 72), S Jewell, N Scott; G Ross, N Runciman(A Davies 72); F Montanella (T Bristow 52), N Briggs (D George 22-26, h/t), G Bateman (J Tideswell 72); M Purdy (A Brown h/t), J Mills (capt), D Browne, M Denbee (A Balding 56), L Beach.

Penalties - Ross (5)

Chiefs: J Nowell; N Sestaret (R Coote 79), S Hill, M Dorrian (M Pope 75), M Foster; H Slade, J Poluleuligaga (capt, S Townsend 79); B Moon (L Cowan-Dickie 66), N Clark (J Yeandle 66), C Budgen (H Tui 56); D Welch, W Carrick-Smith (J Gray 79); J Conlon (S Simmonds 75), J Blanchet, D Ewers.

Tries - Carrick-Smith, Foster, Nowell (2), Sestaret (2); Conversions - Slade (3); Penalties - Slade (2)

Referee: I Davies (WRFU)

Touch Judges: G Copsey & K Stewart

4th Official: S Davey

Attendance: 2,084

UP NEXT FOR THE CHIEFS: v Ospreys (H), LV= Cup, Saturday, November 17 (5pm)