Leicester Tigers v Exeter Chiefs: Five takeaways as ‘unplayable’ England star flattens fortress Welford Road ahead of ‘grudge match’
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on a run for Exeter Chiefs against Leicester Tigers.
Following Exeter Chiefs’ 35-26 win over Leicester Tigers in the Gallagher PREM, here are our five takeaways from the Round 17 clash at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
The top line
Exeter Chiefs set up a final day winner-takes-all showdown with Saracens for the last play-off spot by doing what no other club has done this season and ransacking Leicester’s fortress.
Chiefs, beaten in three of their last four outings, were given little chance against the form side in the league, who last tasted defeat at home in March 2025.
Despite trailing at half-time and having Olly Woodburn sin-binned on the hour, they rallied superbly to not only claim maximum points with a 35-26 win, but deny Geoff Parling’s men even a losing bonus.
Andrea Zambonin capped his player of the match performance with the winning try six minutes from the end, a score which meant the lead changed hands for a seventh time.
The result killed Bristol’s hopes of making the post-season, two days after Pat Lam’s side beat Bath to give themselves an outside chance.
How this changes the play-off picture
Other than eliminating Bears, ‘very little’ is the simple answer. Leicester still need to win at Bath if they are to nick second place from the champions and with it home field semi-final advantage.
Exeter still need to beat Saracens at Sandy Park if they are to claim fourth spot, deny Mark McCall a play-off farewell and book an away trip to top dogs Northampton Saints.
But what this result has done is inject belief into Exeter, a fortnight after they lost so dismally at Harlequins. That day at Allianz Stadium was a real wake-up call for Rob Baxter’s men, who perhaps thought they had cracked it after beating Bath at Sandy Park.
By scoring four tries at Welford Road, where they last won five and a half years ago, they have wrestled that momentum back. But they know the job is not done. A three-point lead over fast-finishing Sarries is not a sufficient buffer against a no-show against six-time champion opposition.
Chiefs welcome challenge of bitter rivals
Exeter don’t like Saracens, for reasons well known. Bristol, Bath and Gloucester might be their ‘derby’ fixtures but Sarries is the grudge match. Understandably, many would say, they did not appreciate the Londoners’ salary cap breaches, given the titles they feel it cost them.
So there would be easier matches to be had on the final weekend than a clash with a side fighting for the same prize, a club driven to give McCall, their director of rugby, a showpiece send-off at Allianz Stadium on June 20.
Saracens also have an extra day to prepare. Yet rather than express unease at the fixture, Baxter welcomed it.
“Its’ great for rugby and it’s probably good for us because it concentrates our minds,” he said. “If we get to the semi-final it’s going to be away. Do we want to be involved in big games to prepare for it, or do we want dead rubbers?
“For me, having to come here and having to get points and playing next week and having to win, I think that’s the best prep for us if we are going to have any chance of getting to a semi-final, final, because we’re going to have to do something like we’ve done here: come away and so something special.”
Feyi-Waboso, a Man-ny possessed?
A year ago Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was having a miserable time of it. Injury had cost him his Six Nations chance, Exeter were tanking and when he did eventually get back he picked up a red card playing for England in a friendly against France which cost him his place in the summer series against Argentina.
Fast forward 12 months and the smile is back on the face of Chiefs’ powerful wing. Against Leicester he was virtually unplayable. He made the first of Woodburn’s two tries with a run so ridiculous not a single Tiger laid a finger on him.
He was forceful on the front foot, mighty in the tackle – as Ollie Hassell-Collins can testify after being pile-driven into the East Midlands dirt.
“He’s box office,” Ireland and Lions legend Brian O’Driscoll said in TNT Sports commentary. “Just an unbelievable athlete,” fellow pundit Austin Healey concurred.
Add to that the calm assurance of Henry Slade, who kicked 15 points to extend his lead at the top of the PREM scoring charts, and the big-game temperament of Len Ikitau, returning to fitness and form at just the right time.
Factor in also the leadership, usually by example, of Dafydd Jenkins, who weighed in with 16 tackles here, and the all-round excellence of Zambonin.
This is a Chiefs side which believes it can upset a few predictions. They did so here with 10 points in the closing moments to turn defeat into victory. Now their attention switches to Saracens.
Toothless Tigers need to rediscover bite
Leicester had not lost at home all season in the league and nobody saw that changing today in this clash of the Prem’s two meanest defences.
Even with injuries forcing them to blood George Pearson – who was excellent – at full-back and Charlie Titcombe at fly-half, there was a confidence in the group that they had enough nous and, particularly, physicality, to force the issue.
After all, on their last outing at home they demolished league leaders Northampton, leading huge numbers of people to predict such momentum would carry them to a home semi-final and on to Twickenham.
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If not rewritten, that script is being toned down, after this loss. What we thought were certainties – namely a dominant Tigers scrum and lineout – proved not to be.
Leicester led 14-13 at half-time and exploited Woodburn’s yellow card to turn a 14-25 deficit into a 26-25 lead with 10 minutes to go, through tries by Olly Cracknell and Charlie Clare.
But they could not see it out. Bath are in an awful run of form themselves but will know now their old rivals are beatable. Both at Sandy Park and the Recreation Ground in the old Roman city, we have quite a day in store next Saturday.
