Exeter 37-7 London Irish: Chiefs back to winning ways
Last Updated: 09/09/17 7:03pm
Champions Exeter got back to winning ways in the Aviva Premiership with a convincing 37-7 defeat of London Irish at Sandy Park.
However, despite the margin of victory, Chiefs were nowhere near their best - needing late tries from Olly Woodburn and Dom Armand to secure their bonus point.
It was Armand's second try of the game, with Henry Slade and Woodburn scoring the others. There was also a penalty try award in their favour, with Gareth Steenson adding two penalties and two conversions.
Alex Lewington scored a late try for Irish, which Tommy Bell converted.
Exeter, beaten at Gloucester on the opening day, dominated the early exchanges and went ahead in the 10th minute when Steenson kicked a penalty.
Chiefs had their first try two minutes later when a skilfully executed pre-planned move resulted in number eight Sam Simmonds bursting through to send Slade racing 25 metres to score.
Steenson surprisingly missed the conversion but the home side continued their superiority with wings Jack Nowell and Woodburn going close before the Chiefs were awarded a penalty try when the visitors illegally sacked a forward drive.
Despite fly-half James Marshall making a couple of neat runs, Irish made too many basic mistakes in the opening half-hour, which allowed wind-assisted Exeter to gain easy platforms in the visitors' 22.
From one of these, Armand finished off a flowing movement by forcing his way over for his side's third try and a 20-0 half-time lead.
After the restart, London Irish continued with their errors with full-back Bell, knocking on to give the home side an opportunity to extend their lead, which they took when Steenson kicked his second penalty.
However, Nic White's clearance kick was charged down for the visitors to have their first period of pressure and they almost opened their account when Bell was narrowly beaten to the touchdown by Slade after a clever chip ahead by
Lewington.
London Irish rang the changes, making five in five minutes and a mistake from Phil Dollman gave them a five-metre scrum in front of the home posts. The Exeter full-back knocked on a routine catch but once again the visitors lacked the
accuracy and creativity to score with poor handling allowing Exeter to clear the danger.
Steenson's penalty was the only score of a disjointed and error-ridden second half until eight minutes from time when a well-timed pass from replacement Brendan McKibbin sent Lewington over.
Four minutes later, Woodburn earned Exeter their bonus point when he intercepted a stray pass to run 50 metres to score, before Armand crashed over from close range with the final movement of the match.
