Hepher happy after Tigers victory
By Mark Stevens
21/3/21
Ali Hepher says his Exeter Chiefs will use the experiences of last season’s double-winning campaign to help drive them towards success again this season.
The defending Gallagher Premiership champions maintained their pursuit of Westcountry rivals Bristol Bears at the top of the table by securing a 47-31 win over visiting Leicester Tigers in their latest top-flight fixture at Sandy Park.
Having stormed into a 28-0 lead thanks to first half tries from Harry Williams, Tom O’Flaherty, Dave Ewers and Harvey Skinner, the Tigers - who had winger Kobus Van Wyk sent off after 13 minutes - then hit back with two scores of their own through Tomas Lavanini and Jack Van Poortvliet to leave the score at 28-12 at the break.
Further tries after the break from Sam Simmonds, Olly Woodburn and Jacques Vermeulen completed the job for the Chiefs, but they were made to fight all the way by the visitors who at least headed home with a try bonus point thanks to touchdowns from Matt Scott, Charlie Clare and skipper Hanro Liebenberg.
Exeter’s win meant they were able to cut the gap on the Bears at the top of the table to two points, although Bristol could well extend their lead again when they travel to Northampton Saints on Sunday.
“It was a tough win,” admitted head coach Hepher post-game. “That said, we should absolutely celebrate a great win.We did a lot of things right to score that many points, but equally we’re a little bit frustrated with the points we conceded. Overall, if you said at the start of the day we’d get five points out of the game, against a tough Leicester side, we would have taken that.”
Although the Tigers struggled initially to cope with the loss of Van Wyk for a high shoulder charge on Jack Maunder, they did regroup well and Hepher acknowledged the part they played in a full-blooded encounter.
“Often in the past when you come up against 14 men, it’s hard not to put sides away,” he said. “We have done the same on the reverse side, we’ve made it tough for opposition too. As I said, it was changed-up Leicester side, we went 28-0 up, and even the hardest and strongest mentally can slip up a bit there. As coaches we understand that, so we’re not going to be too despondent about things, instead we’ll celebrate what was a great score and some great tries.”
In a season which is as competitive as ever in the Premiership, Hepher says every week the challenge is there for him and his players.
He continued: “We knew this would be a tough season for us. We knew we would lose our international players for long periods,but the good thing is we are scrapping through. We’re second in the league and we couldn’t ask to be in a better position. Next week we get those international guys back in, hopefully fit and healthy, and then we can attack the rest of the season because we’ve got some big games coming up and that is when we are going to thrive.
“It’s really important coming off the back of last year, we have that experience, and now we’ll look forward to those big games.”
Next up for the Chiefs is a trip to Gloucester this Friday, a fixture Hepher knows from past experience is always testing whatever the time of year.
“It’s a great place to go and play and we look forward to going there every year,” he said. “It’s a shame there will be no fans, because that is what makes the place, but it’s a short turnaround for both of us and we will just have to see who hits the pitch first and ultimately comes out on top.”
Indeed, Hepher and his fellow coaches will be wanting more of the same from their players, who after tough first half performances against Bath and Harlequins, had no such problems against Steve Borthwick’s Tigers.
It was important to start well,” said Hepher. “Even today we missed a couple of opportunities early on, but mentally we didn’t drop our heads or get frustrated, which we probably did last week when we didn’t get the scores. Instead, we came through strongly and by the end of the half we were looking pretty tasty in attack.
“Equally, we knew the danger out there, they [Leicester] were coming hard at us on the outside and we were not necessarily clearing well, which gave them plenty of opportunities to go to the corner and use their pack. However, we dug in when we needed to and, most importantly, we did enough to win the game.”