Argentinian fly-half Ignacio Mieres was delighted with his 19-point debut for Exeter in their superb LV= Cup win over Wasps
Fly-half kicks 19 points as beat Wasps in Cup opener
Argentinian fly-half Ignacio Mieres was delighted with his 19-point debut for Exeter in their superb LV= Cup win over Wasps
Although the Chiefs fielded a completely different side to the one which won at Saracens in the Aviva Premiership, they still had enough to beat Wasps at Sandy Park.
Mieres kicked five penalties and two conversions to be named man of the match on his debut, having joined the Chiefs just two weeks ago after previous spells in France for Perpignan and Stade Francais.
"Before the game we were talking about winning the physical battle and I think we did with the forwards doing a great job," Mieres said.
"Luckily I had a good kicking day and so I am so happy."
Exeter assistant coach Ali Hepher was pleased with the manner of their 29-6 victory, coming as it did with so many team changes.
"There is not two sets of players in this club, we are as one, and we will stick together through thick and thin," Hepher said.
"It gives us some headaches now in selection, which is better than playing poorly and not knowing who to pick.
"This was a complete flip from the Montpellier game (a 20-13 defeat in the Amlin Cup). We always knew that they had it in them, which was why we were disappointed from that game, but they changed it round today and this was a massive performance for the club."
Pressure
Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks accepted his side struggled from the early stages as he saw blindside flanker Will Matthews, lock Marty Veale and Andy Powell shown yellow cards.
Hanks said: "A couple of times I thought we got the ball under a bit of pressure and then just turned it over at the end with something silly. We didn't control possession well enough.
"Exeter brought in a lot of good players and it just shows that their club is in a really good state at the moment. They played with a lot of enthusiasm and I thought that we were out-hustled at times.
"I felt that I was just watching a game that wasn't going to go our way and fair play to them. They took their opportunities and our discipline wasn't good enough, we have to be honest about that with three players yellow-carded.
"They were the better side and fully deserved their win, but what we have to look at is that we seem to be having this roller-coaster ride at the moment.
"One week I am talking about how well we've played, the composure and we've turned the corner.
"Then we have one of those weeks when we are not at our standard. We need to rectify that real quick because a 50% loss-rate at the end of the year isn't going to get you in play-off games."
