Exeter Chiefs: Five takeaways as ‘classy midfield’ shine in double-header victory

Exeter Chiefs began their pre-season campaign with two solid wins over Championship teams London Scottish and Cornish Pirates on Saturday.

The second-tier sides gave a decent account of themselves, however Exeter proved too strong in the end as they racked up an aggregate score of 91-43 in front of a decent 7,900-strong Sandy Park crowd.

Here are our five key takeaways from the Exeter Chiefs double-header victory.

The top line

Pre-season games are always hard to judge, but Exeter can certainly feel very happy with their afternoon’s work.

Things got off to a great start for the Devonians, as they claimed a 45-19 win over a solid London Scottish side who brought plenty of fight to proceedings. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, as Scottish took the lead in the early exchanges, and held Exeter 21-14 at the break after some goal-line heroics.

The Chiefs came out strong in the second-half though, and eventually ran away with the game after turning to a more set-piece focussed game.

Not to be outdone, the second game of the afternoon saw Exeter come out 46-24 winners.

This was done in a slightly different style though, with the Chiefs utilising the full width of the pitch to good effect. Paul Brown-Bampoe, Olly Woodburn and Zach Wimbush all got themselves on the scoresheet after some scintillating breaks out wide.

It was certainly a pleasing sign for the Chiefs faithful, seeing their team pull off two different types of wins in a solid afternoon in the Devon sunshine.

Fresh faces

A number of fresh faces made the step up to the senior fold in this pre-season double header, and here is a run-down of those who caught the eye the most.

Joe Bailey: Physical in the contact, and came up with some cute offloads to keep the attack alive.

Martin Maloney: Got heavily involved in most areas of the game, and importantly looked really comfortable against a physical Scottish side. Will be one to keep an eye on moving forward.

Kane James: Strong carries in the tight and made a lot of work for himself. Also capped off a tidy display with a try.

Campbell Ridl: Pacey winger and really looked to break away whenever he touched the ball. Also made some nice cover tackles.

Noah Fenton: Looked a constant threat out wide, and used his speed to good effect to get around the Londoners’ defence. Grabbed a try, but could easily have had more too.

Paul Brown-Bampoe: A powerful, pacy winger with the ability to dance around defenders. Notched a superb hat-trick in the first-half, and made himself the focal point of the Chiefs attack against the Pirates.

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All round set-piece masterclass

Exeter’s set-piece really came on last year, but it looked to have improved even from that in this double header.

In the opener against London Scottish, all areas of the set-piece functioned to frightening levels. They dominated the scrum, winning a number of penalties in the process, and the lineout also looked a lot cleaner and tidier than in previous seasons.

Exeter had also developed a reputation for the lineout maul, and they used this to good effect against Scottish, grabbing two direct tries from driving mauls and getting another two after mauling close to the line as well.

The second match of the day saw Exeter continue this set-piece dominance, especially in the scrum. New recruit Will Goodrick-Clarke stood out in this area, winning several penalties in the early exchanges and could be a big part of the scrum moving forward.

The set-piece seems to be a key weapon in Exeter’s arsenal this year.

Classy midfield

Exeter will be without star man Henry Slade for the opening rounds of the Premiership, but if today’s showing is anything to go by they should still have a classy midfield.

Joe Hawkins looked incredibly sharp with ball-in-hand, and produced some lovely carries against London Scottish. His partner for the day, Ben Hammersley, also chipped in with some decent touches on both sides of the ball, and got himself on the scoresheet for his troubles. Nick Lilley, who came on as a blood replacement for Hammersley, also made a good impact and grabbed a fine try too.

In the second fixture, Wimbush and Will Rigg looked a settled unit, and connected well with each other. On their own, they also made significant inroads through the Pirates defence, utilising their huge frames to good effect.

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An important note is each player looked comfortable in the shape. In the 12 shirts, Rigg and Hawkins ultimately performed very similar roles, but in slightly different ways. They were by no means crash-ball centres, but were put through holes to get Exeter on the front-foot.

Their respective partners Wimbush and Hammersley also did the same. With both men, in particular Hammersley, tasting game time on the wings, they were often found out wide whenever their wingers went looking for work, and this still allowed Exeter to have a full back-line and keep a fluid attack. This is a really important skill for them to develop now in time for the return of England star Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who often pops up in different areas of the pitch.

Potential areas for improvement?

A side is never the finished article in pre-season, and if you are you’ve probably done something wrong; and the Chiefs still need to fix a couple of things ahead of the season.

Exeter have introduced a blitz defence in the past couple of years, which is instinctively narrow; but they were particularly narrow in both of the pre-season fixtures today, but especially against Scottish. At times, the Chiefs’ widest defender was on the 15 metre line, which gave the opposition so much space out wide.

The Londoners utilised this to good effect in the early part of the opening game, as Noah Ferdinand broke down the wing multiple times. Fly-half Tom Wilstead also produced some lovely cross-field kicks to exploit the space out wide, which got London on the upper hand a couple of times.

This issue also came up against the Pirates, and whilst it wasn’t seen as often, it will still be a cause for concern how easy it is for teams to get around the Exeter defence.

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