Exeter start Euro campaign with victory at La Rochelle
THE European Cup has become a real bugbear for Exeter, a bit like an itch you cannot quite reach.
However, they managed the necessary contortions yesterday, getting off to an ideal start to this season’s tournament with a conclusive away victory at La Rochelle.
There are not many teams that manage to storm the gates of La Rochelle’s Stade Marcel Deflandre citadel, and certainly not with the conviction Exeter showed here by coming away with a bonus point win, which will do wonders for their chances of reaching the knock-out stages.
The Chiefs came good at the right time, producing their best performance of the season on the French Atlantic coast.
The Premiership outfit had a clear advantage in terms of ball control and tactical discipline, and once they had their hooks in they showed their old habit of not only accumulating points, but also having sufficient clout in defence to keep the other side on short rations.
With Harry Williams and No.8 Sam Simmonds the pick of a pack that won the trench warfare, and the halfback pairing of Nic White and Joe Simmonds making a better fist of playing in the right areas of the pitch then their erratic La Rochelle counterparts Alexi Bales and Ihaia West, the Chiefs made the early inroads.
Better still, they had enough firepower out wide through tenacious wing Tom O’Flaherty and England outside-centre Henry Slade to put away the chances that they either created, or came from the errors they squeezed out of La Rochelle.
O’Flaherty made the first inroads with a break into French territory and a pop pass which sent Williams on a bullocking run into the 22. When the Chiefs tight-head was hauled down a dart by White kept the La Rochelle defence on its heels, and a couple of pick-and-drives later David Dennis rammed his way over the line for the opening try.
With the home crowd silenced, Joe Simmonds added the conversion to give Exeter a 7-0 lead with eight minutes on the clock.
However, La Rochelle threatened to get back on level terms when a quick tap and long pass by Bales to wing Arthur Retiere saw him put his fellow wing Vincent Rattez clear.
The only hitch was that Bales pass was clearly forward, and when a TMO intervention saw the touchdown ruled out Exeter benefited from kicking long, and chasing hard.
This reaped a dividend on the half-hour when a wild pass by Bales into the ingoal area went dead, giving Exeter a five-metre scrum.
After a couple of resets, the Exeter scrum got the
controlled heel and forward nudge they were looking for, and after White linked with Joe Simmonds the fly- half threw a long pass to O’Flaherty.
The Chiefs wing stepped inside West, and then had the strength to ride Retiere’s tackle to score in the corner.
Simmonds added the extras from the touchline, and after La Rochelle’s attempt to batter the door down in the last act of the first half was thwarted by Exeter’s swarm defence, they had a psychological advantage to go with their 14-0 half-time lead.
La Rochelle's attempts to change the script were rewarded when they showed their attacking threat in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring an impressive try through their French international centre, Geoffrey Doumayrou. It started with West’s deft chip to the touchline for Rattez, and when Doumayrou took his pass and linked with Retiere, the Chiefs were scrambling.
However, it was nip-andtuck due to great corner-flagging by Sam Simmonds, but Retiere just managed to get an inside pass away to put Doumayrou over.
West could not convert, and, as La Rochelle chased a second try a great read by Slade saw him intercept Jeremy Sinzelle’s pass and race 40 metres to score. With fly-half Simmonds hitting the target Exeter led 21-5, and they wrapped up the match just after the hour when Sam Simmonds sold a dummy and had the power to piggy-back Retiere over the line for the bonus point try.
His brother Joe converted and then added a penalty to give the Chiefs their winning tally, and, even though La Rochelle scored through Kini Murimurivalu with the last move of the match, it was already game over.