Richards will not let defeat derail season
DEAN Richards credited Exeter Chiefs’ superior game management as the Devon side shaded yesterday’s Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final at Sandy Park.
Joe Simmonds’ late penalty eliminated a Falcons side who had led at half-time, director of rugby Richards telling www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk: “We have sat down in the changing room and acknowledged we weren’t as accurate as we should have been in almost every facet of play.
“Full credit to Exeter, they played with a little more composure than we did. That is disappointing, and I don’t know if it’s another long trip potentially catching us up or what, but the boys were disappointed more with the performance than the result.
“You don’t mind if you play well and lose, but we didn’t play well.”
The Chiefs trailed 17-7 at the interval but a strong second-half performance booked a date in this Sunday’s final at Kingsholm against Bath.
It will be Exeter’s fourth consecutive appearance in the final, having lost the last two.
Simmonds and Stu Townsend scored tries for Exeter, with Simmonds converting both and adding two penalties.
Simon Hammersley and Kyle Cooper went over for the Falcons while Toby Flood added two conversions and a penalty.
Exeter took the lead with a splendid try in the third minute. Argentina international Santiago Cordero fielded a clearance before sailing through a huge gap in the visitors’ defence with Townsend up in support to receive the scoring pass.
Flood got his side on the scoreboard with a penalty before they suffered a setback when prop Sam Lockwood left the field with a nasty cut to his head. It took a driving line-out to record the next score when Cooper crashed over to give Newcastle the lead. Lockwood returned with his head heavily bandaged but the errors continued with visitors’ centre Josh Matavesi twice kicking the ball straight out of play. Number eight Nili Latu burst away from a maul on halfway to run 35 metres before the ball was recycled for Ally Hogg to send Hammersley over and give Newcastle a 17-7 half-time lead.
Exeter had the advantage of the wind in the second half and after a period of sustained forward pressure, Simmonds side-stepped past Hammersley to score.
A lengthy touch-finder from Devoto secured Exeter a platform in the opposition 22 and when the visitors were penalised at a scrum, Simmonds brought the scores level before Flood was short with a penalty attempt.
Simmonds landed the match-winner before replacement Joel Hodgson had a chance to take the match into extra-time but his kick fell short.
Richards said: “I was disappointed with the first try they scored because there was a clear obstruction, but you’re never going to get every decision and I don’t think the referee is the reason we lost the game.”
Still sat at fourth in the Aviva Premiership and in the last eight of the European Challenge Cup, the Falcons boss said: “The thing for us now is to very quickly put this behind us because we have some massive games coming up, with the Northampton match at St James’ Park on March 24 and a home European quarter-final on Good Friday.
“If we sit around moping about it we’ll not get anything done over the next two weeks.
“We didn’t play the conditions especially well, and I thought Exeter understood what was needed better than us. It then came down to our execution, and our kicking game was uncharacteristically poor.
“We showed with Simon Hammersley’s try what kind of rugby we have got in us when we get it right, but we’ve got to put this game to bed and understand that we’ve been performing well overall this season.
“There’s enough drive within the camp to ensure that this one defeat doesn’t derail our season.”
The boys were disappointed more with the performance than the result ... We didn’t play well Dean Richards