Match Report: Chiefs 31 – 0 Cardiff

Exeter Chiefs held Cardiff Rugby scoreless at Sandy Park in round four of the EPCR Challenge Cup on Sunday afternoon as the Exeter men sealed their knockout fate.

A five-try bonus-point win for Rob Baxter’s men means Chiefs qualify third in Pool Three and will receive a home draw for the round of 16 stage.

Chiefs kicked off into the Cardiff half and didn’t leave the half until they had scored their first points on seven minutes. Working with repeated phases on the line, it was the smiling assassin Bachuki Tchumbadze who muscled his way over for the try, his first in Chiefs colours.

The Georgian emerged from the litter of bodies to the congratulations of teammates and was still smiling as Henry Slade slotted the conversion points.

There was heartbreak for young Chief Kane James when after just 11 minutes played, he had to be helped from the field by physios. The young back-rower looked to have caught his leg wrong in a tackle on the Cardiff 22 having broken through the line with ball in hand.

Cardiff were reduced to 14 men after 19 minutes when Rory Thornton was shown a yellow card for cynical play just inside his own 22. The second row had knocked Stephen Varney’s arm at a ruck, forcing a fumble of the ball from the Chiefs scrum half.

Chiefs made immediate use of the man advantage as Tchumbadze once more profited with a short reload an inch from the line. A TMO check proved the ball was on the line and Slade was allowed to line up a successful kick for goal.

From one front-rower to another, Joseph Dweba scored Chiefs’ third of the day. A perfectly weighted kick to touch from Slade put Chiefs’ driving maul within striking distance. Hooker Dweba peeled off the rear with a metre to go and crashed over tight to the corner flag. The conversion attempt pulled wide of the right upright.

Cardiff were able to withstand a final barrage in the closing stages of the half but had to settle for no points themselves as they returned to the changing rooms.

Half-time: Chiefs 19 – 0 Cardiff

After a turgid opening 10 minutes of second half action, Cardiff thought they were on the board when Tom Bowen collected his own chip kick over the line to dot down. However, there was a knock-on earlier in the passage of play and so the try was disallowed, Chiefs instead given the scrum feed.

Chiefs wrapped up the try bonus point on 67 minutes when replacement hooker Julian Heaven was called into space by Varney. The hooker broke off the set piece, carving a line through the unsuspecting Cardiff defenders to score the try. Slade’s final act in the game before being substituted was to successfully kick the conversion.

There was still time left in the game for the backs to impress themselves upon it. A determined line-break from Harvey Skinner put Chiefs on the front-foot in the Cardiff half. The fly-half grubbered a ball through for Paul Brown-Bampoe to run onto and the winger, with inches between him and the touchline, dove upon the ball for Chiefs’ final score.

The result ensured Chiefs will face a home knockout round of 16 match-up with the opposition, date and time still to be officially confirmed.

Full-time: Chiefs 31 – 0 Cardiff

Chiefs: O Woodburn; I Feyi-Waboso, H Slade (Hammersley 67’), W Haydon-Wood, P Brown-Bampoe; H Skinner, S Varney (Chapman 67’); S Sio (Goodrick-Clarke 57’), J Dweba (Heaven 57’), B Tchumbadze (J Roots 57’), D Jenkins (c) (Pearson 61’), A Zambonin, T Hooper (Tuima 69’), E Roots, K James (Capstick 10’).

Tries: Tchumbadze 2, Dweba, Heaven, Brown-Bampoe Conversions: Slade 3

Cardiff: J Beetham; M Grady, C Smit (Winnet 51’), R Jennings (Davies 67’), T Bowen; I Lloyd, J Mulder; D Southworth (Domachowski 49’), E Lloyd (Hughes 61’), S Wainwright (Sebastian 49’), J McNally (c) (Nott 49’), R Thornton (Cottle 71’), J Botham (Lawrence 61’), D Thomas, T Basham.

Yellow card: Rory Thornton

Referee: Griffin Colby

Attendance: 8756