Exeter take five from the Stoop

Exeter moved level on points with league leaders Wasps on Friday as they beat Harlequins 39-26 with a bonus-point at the Twickenham Stoop.

Tries from Dave Ewers, Michele Campagnaro, Lachie Turner (2) and Henry Slade saw them come out on top for a deserved five points.

In reply Quins scored three times through Mat Luamanu, Nick Evans and Tim Visser, with the latter coming too little too late for them.

Harlequins hit the front with just three minutes on the clock when number eight Luamanu went over but Chiefs playmaker Slade responded with a penalty soon after to make it 5-3 in a hotly contested first 10 minutes between the league's sixth and second placed sides respectively.

Exeter managed to go ahead on 17 minutes when Ewers crossed, but this time Slade could not add points so the Chiefs led by three.

Harlequins fly-half Evans levelled things up with a penalty on 28 minutes, this after Exeter were caught offside by referee Wayne Barnes.

But it didn't take long for Exeter to lead again when Olly Woodburn found Italian international Campagnaro for a score that Slade converted. Fortunately for Quins, Evans stepped up just before the interval to cut the arrears down to four points, with Exeter going in 15-11 in front.

Despite Evans going over two minutes into the second-half for Quins, Exeter then put on a masterclass from the hour mark as first Turner crossed to take them into a 25-19 lead with Gareth Steenson's conversion, before Slade scored three minutes later to take Exeter clear.

At 32-19 things were looking great for the Chiefs so when Turner grabbed his brace on 76 minutes, that meant Visser's late try did little for Quins, who suffer a tenth league defeat but do remain sixth, with Northampton needing just a point from the weekend to go above them.

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Luamanu, Evans, Visser
Con: Swiel
Pens: Evans 3

For Exeter:
Tries: Ewers, Campagnaro, Turner 2, Slade
Cons: Slade, Steenson 3
Pens: Slade 2

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care (c), 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 James Horwill, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Rob Buchanan, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 George Merrick, 20 Dave Ward, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Alofa Alofa

Exeter: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 James Short, 10 Henry Slade, 9 Jack Maunder, 8 Kai Horstmann, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Dave Dennis, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Carl Rimmer
Replacements: 16 Shaun Malton, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Ollie Atkins, 20 Julian Salvi, 21 Stuart Townsend, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Sam Hill

Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: JP Doyle, Paul Dix
TMO: Sean Davey