Exeter player ratings: Penalties ‘tarnish’ an A* performance from Wallabies star while ‘genuinely exciting’ young talent shines
Exeter player ratings: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Stephen Varney pictured
Exeter were outclassed by a rampant Ulster side on Saturday, finding themselves booted out of the Investec Challenge Cup semi-finals on a scoreline of 29-12.
Here are our Exeter player ratings:
Backs
15 Ben Hammersley: An extremely quiet showing from the young full-back, who was found cleaning up most of the afternoon. Should have done better when finding himself in space just metres from the try line in the first half. Given his yellow card marching orders with seven minutes remaining after deliberately knocking the ball on. 4
14 Campbell Ridl: A genuinely exciting young talent. He made a brilliant break early in the second half which almost led to a Chiefs try, and later made the best part of 50 metres with an individual charge down the right-hand touchline. Fully deserved his try at the death. 7
13 Henry Slade: An important component in the Chiefs‘ attacking machine, and looked to be in fine working order in the first half when he threw a great pass to set Hammersley up for what should have been the Chiefs’ opening try. His poor kicking from both hands and tee put the Chiefs under plenty of pressure, however. He also missed three tackles and spent most of his time running into contact rather than creating space around it. A frustrating afternoon for the usually ice-cold centre. 5
12 Len Ikitau: A player of such devastating talent, but he barely showed an ounce of his potential. Besides his occasional display of soft hands, it was a disappointing outing from the Aussie midfielder. 5
11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso: Looked devastating early on, but took an almighty high hit from Jacob Stockdale, which ended his afternoon early. 6
10 Harvey Skinner: Weak in defence and stripped of the ball during a break, which lost his side 50 metres. He got himself involved in the game well, but failed to add anything of value to proceedings. 4
9 Stephen Varney: One of the few shining stars within the Exeter ranks. The Newcastle-bound star made a great first break and was electric from the base throughout, beating five defenders in the process. Disappointingly, he did lose the ball on multiple occasions, however. 7
Forwards
8 Ross Vintcent: His job was simple; crash through the Ulster defence. At times, this worked, but as their game plan was read, his effectiveness dwindled. He showed great finishing prowess to score Exeter’s opening try, but often failed to beat the first man. 6
7 Christ Tshiunza: Tackled extremely well, putting in some huge hits, but added very little in attack, carrying the ball just four times and making a grand total of two metres. 5
6 Tom Hooper: An extremely busy afternoon for the Wallabies back-rower, who made a team high of 14 carries and completed 18 tackles without missing a single one. The only downside to his performance was the three penalties he conceded, which tarnished what could have been an A* performance. 8
5 Andrea Zambonin: He offered nothing more than a lump in defence, missing two tackles whilst he carried just once, adding nothing to the attacking structure. He was used in the lineout, granted, but was far from making a positive impact. 4
4 Dafydd Jenkins: Defensively class. The former Wales captain made 21 completed tackles and led from the skies in the lineout. Unfortunately, like his lock partner, he was ineffective in attack, making just six metres from four carries. 6
3 Bachuki Tchumbadze: The scrum held well, and he made all of his tackles. The only real issue was his average of one metre made per carry, which was pretty shocking. 5
2 Max Norey: Turned over a couple of times, was weak in defence, and the lineout struggled at times. He did offer himself in attack, although the effectiveness of his carry can be left up for debate. 3
1 Scott Sio: Tackled well, not missing a single hit, and looked strong in the set piece. In the attack, however, he went backwards. 5
Replacements: The bench didn’t offer a solution to the increasing scoreboard problem, but they did put up a good fight. Ethan Burban put in a huge shot in the middle of the field, Nick Lilley made a good break down the right-hand side and Rusi Tuima used his size and surprisingly soft hands to great effect. 6