mens
Gallagher-Prime Minister
Exeter’s director of rugby Rob Baxter hailed his side’s hard-fought victory Newcastle which gave them their first Gallagher Prem win of the “bloody stressful” season.
Exeter were careless and error-ridden as the lead changed hands on a number of occasions at Sandy Park before they took the noses one last time to claim a 34-28 success in front of a disappointing crowd of just over 7,000.
Newcastle overcame a terrible start, falling behind after just 40 seconds, making life extremely difficult for the home side, Christian Wade scoring a hat-trick of tries.
Max Hicks added another and Zack Henry converted all four to secure two valuable bonus points.
Ross Vintcent scored two tries for the Chiefs, while Sam Harris, Henry Slade and Bachuki Tchumbadze got the others, with Henry Slade converting three and kicking a penalty.
Baxter said: “My wife rang me after the game and said it was bloody stressful and I agree with her.
“We attacked well because we knew how to create opportunities, but we really lacked defensive energy, because we slowly got off the floor.
“The leadership flip-flops prevented us from settling down and the game was not in the control we would have liked.
“The scoreline pressure meant we didn’t take easy options but our defense improved as they only scored once in the second half.”
Exeter also saw England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso leaves midway through the second half.
Baxter said: “He hasn’t been feeling well because he seems to have strained his hamstring a bit. That will be scanned but at the moment it’s more of a worry than a worry.”
Despite the defeat, Newcastle director of rugby Dan McFarland remained optimistic.
He said: “It was disappointing to lose but two points against last season’s finalists is something to be proud of as every point gained at Prem will have to be earned.
“We went down playing the brand of rugby we want to play going forward.
“We had chances to score at the beginning of the second half, but we made too many mistakes and lacked connection.
“In the 60th minute Jake Dalziel’s 50/20 effort went the wrong way for us and that was the key moment.
“We are Scarlets away next week in the other competition and we will roll the dice because we have a few players who want to play.”
Of Newcastle star Wade, McFarland added: “He’s a really good man, a great link in our leadership group.
“He has dancing feet and tremendous quickness and (is) a return because he is not a modern 6-foot-plus wing who has to continue to compete in the air.”
