RUGBY EXTRA
Hepher happy as Exeter head north on a high
EXETER yesterday warmed-up for the visit to Glasgow Warriors with a convincing win over London Irish. Head coach Ali Hepher praised his players for backing up last weekend’s win over fierce rivals Saracens by claiming another Gallagher Premiership scalp.
The Saracens success — a game given added spice by the salary-cap scandal that saw Sarries docked 35 league points and fined more than £5million — meant Exeter ended 2019 as league leaders.
And they remain top of the pile heading into a fortnight worth of Heineken Champions Cup action after beating Irish at the Madejski Stadium.
‘We are really pleased with the way the guys fought out there, especially after last week and the emotion we chucked into that,’ said Hepher. ‘In the past, we have slipped off the next week.
‘It is a tough situation when you do have such a big game mid-season and then you have to respond to it, but this is what the side is getting much better at.
‘It wasn’t perfect. There were a lot of mistakes and discipline was obviously a factor, but we had enough fight to win against a tough side.’
Exeter, with former Warriors star Stuart Hogg in their ranks, delivered a strong bonus-point display, decisively scoring three converted tries in seven minutes before half-time.
Irish battled away to claim four tries of their own and collect a losing bonus point, with Exeter briefly being reduced to 13 men in the second half when wing Olly Woodburn and centre Ollie Devoto were sin-binned for deliberate knock-ons.
‘We need to be a little smarter with how we deal with those situations when we are one or two (players) down, but we hung in there enough and got a penalty to move outside a two-score lead,’ added Hepher.
‘You cannot, for a 30-plus game season, hit 100-per-cent mentality every single week. You have to pick your moments. You will have slight dips, but you have to make sure those dips are manageable.’
Lock Dave Dennis, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and Devoto all followed Sam Hill over the Irish line before the break — and there was no way back for an Exiles side condemned to a third successive league defeat.
Hill added his second try just after the break, before substitute scrum-half Stu Townsend crossed.
And although Irish responded with touchdowns by wing Belgium Tuatagaloa, No8 Albert Tuisue, wing Ollie Hassell-Collins and flanker Steve Mafi — all converted by Stephen Myler — Exeter were good value, with Gareth Steenson kicking 15 points.