Following Exeter Chiefs’ 34-28 win over Newcastle Red Bulls at Sandy Park, here are our five key takeaways from the PREM Rugby clash.
The top line
Exeter Chiefs came back from behind to secure their first win of the new PREM Rugby season against a spirited Newcastle Red Bulls outfit.
The Devonians got off to a flying start with Ross Vintcent opening the scoring inside 38 seconds, but found themselves 21-19 down at half-time after two Christian Wade tries and another score from Max Hicks, while Vintcent and Henry Slade got Chiefs’ other tries.
The sides exchanged the lead twice in the early stages of the second-half, with Sam Harris going over for Exeter before Wade completed his hat-trick. However, once the Chiefs took the lead through the boot of Henry Slade in the 64th minute, they didn’t let go, and the victory was then completed thanks to a Bachuki Tchumbadze try late in the day.
Preaching to the converted
Sports stories elsewhere have dominated the headlines in the build-up to Sunday’s action. Even the 119-point thriller at Northampton Saints barely broke national news, with the focus very much on the football at Anfield. Competing with that was always going to be hard, with this game kicking off an hour before that crunch Premier League game.
England: One-cap ‘dark horse’ tipped to ‘bolt all the way to the World Cup’
It proved just that, with the attendance only 7,071 compared to the 15,000 capacity. That’s less than half full, at 47% capacity.
There was a distinct flatness at Sandy Park; an unusual, unexpected, unwanted flatness that you don’t associate with the usually raucous and rampant stadium. It was almost comparable to a pre-season game. It must be stressed that those in the crowd made a racket, but noise doesn’t usually echo at this ground.
The most telling sign of this being a game for the most passionate, devoted parishioners of the Church of Devon was the fact the North Stand was closed for a league match. It’s normally packed to the rafters.
It was a day when the Chiefs were playing to the converted. The result will do something towards changing that ahead of their next home game on Halloween night against Harlequins, but it’s something the club will not want a repeat of.
Utter PREM nonsense
The tone for this weekend has been high-scoring games, and this was another example of that. Vintcent scoring after just 38 seconds and with Exeter’s first touch of the ball set an early precedent for the afternoon’s action, but it didn’t let up. After 14 minutes, both teams had two tries apiece (14-12 Newcastle); after 30 minutes, there were a total of 33 points scored in the game (19-14 Exeter) and at half-time that became 40 (21-19 Newcastle).
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
It slowed down a bit in the second-half, granted, but the game still ended with a tally of 62 points scored. Again, this was more a game where the attacks were on top rather than the defences being especially poor.
Vintcent’s opener aside, which followed a charge-down of a clearing kick, both teams’ tries came as a result of well-executed strike plays after creating space on the edges.
Vintcent’s second, Slade’s try, Wade’s first and Hick’s score all happened in the wide channels after some nice hands, while Wade’s second came after some clever shape through the midfield. You could essentially copy and paste the text to describe Harris’ score, too, with the full-back going over in the corner after some nice play.
Look, it must be pointed out that it was far from the free-flowing, perfectly executed delights that we were treated to at the DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens; but the intent was the same and the sides got rewarded for that.
The PREM is becoming an attack-first league, and this was another example of that.
Thunderbirds are go
Five, four, three, two, one. The Thunderbirds are go! That was probably the tune playing in the heads of the Exeter Chiefs scrums, with them coming to the rescue time and time again.
Every time Exeter needed something to go their way or a shift in momentum, it seemed the scrum was their get-out-of-jail card. The starting unit of Ethan Burger, Jack Yeandle and Josh Iosefa-Scott had their opponents’ number at pretty much every turn and winning plenty of penalties for their troubles.
Replacements Will Goodrick-Clarke, Louie Gulley and Bachuki Tchumbadze only revved things up in that department, winning further penalties for their troubles.
The scrum is quickly becoming a key weapon this season, both in the starting group and bench, but it really dragged them out of a hole in this match.
Right direction
Newcastle are continuing to make significant progress, looking much more connected here than in their previous two outings. Their attack continues to be exciting and full of intent.
Their pack, aside from the scrum battle where they were second-best, went pretty well across the 80 minutes and gave Exeter a real run for their money in the tight. They defended pretty resolutely too.
The fact they are already playing this way in three games deserves a heap of credit. Dan McFarland described it as a start-up project in pre-season after 26 new signings and essentially an entirely new coaching group, but they seem to be clicking now. Things are coming together nicely
Results won’t be too far away now, but they are making good progress.