THE Tigers, with Chris Leck recalled by Sale Sharks and playing a part in the game down at Harlequins, along with Jamie Albinson, suffering from a torn quad muscle picked up in training last Thursday night, welcomed back Chris Wilkinson at scrum-half for a rare outing.

Unfortunately Sedgley didn’t start well, conceding a try in only the third minute. The home side won a lineout 15 metres inside the Tigers’ half and following an effective rolling maul the ball was swung left to right, where Mark Fatialofa burst on to it and drove down the centre channel, off-loading inside to winger Alistair Murdoch who ran in the first of his four tries. With Tony Yapp supplying the extras the Chiefs led 7-0.

From a scrum just inside the Exeter half, scrum-half Kevin Barrett then made a surging break on 10 minutes with the ball eventually moved to Yapp, whose neat chip-and-chase benefited from a kind bounce and weak Sedgley tackling with the Chiefs’ fly-half calmly collecting at pace to go over by the Tigers’ posts from where he supplied the conversion to double the lead.

As the first quarter drew to a close the Tigers began to get their act together, with Chris Briers, skipper Jimmy Ponton, lock Ed Norris and prop Gerallt Evans working the ball forward before it was pushed out wide where a great pass over the top from Phil Jones sent Chris Hall on his way to the Chiefs’ posts. Matt Riley kicked the extra two points to half Exeter’s lead.

Four minutes later Tigers prop Evans – possibly one of the most underrated front rowers in the league and certainly a scrummager to be reckoned with – was yellow carded for a technical offence; as if the Chiefs needed any help.If they didn’t need that bit of assistance they certainly didn’t need the penalty try awarded to them seconds later which Yapp easily converted to make it 21-7.

Two minutes before Evans returned the Chiefs ran in their bonus-point fourth try when they made the most of the extra man, switching the point of attack before a Mark Fatialofa miss-pass found Murdoch and the winger claimed his second touchdown to extend his side’s lead to 26-7.

Back to full strength the Tigers looked determined to redress the balance but could not stop the Chiefs’ pack from mounting a catch-and-drive 10 metres out with replacement back-rower Chad Slade claiming the try, goaled by Yapp to make it 33-7 to Exeter at the turnaround.

The Chiefs led on merit, showing the difference professional preparation makes. But from the re-start it was the Tigers’ turn to catch the Chiefs cold. They took a quick tap-penalty and Jones breached the Chiefs’ defence to waltz to the home posts to give Riley an easy kick to make it 33-14.

But the Chiefs were allowed to hit back within two minutes, Murdoch winning the race following a kick-through to claim his hat-trick try. Five minutes later he celebrated his final game in a Chiefs’ shirt by scoring his fourth and his side’s seventh try to make it 43-14.

Down, but certainly not out, the Tigers forced play to within 18 metres of the Chiefs’ line, where from a lineout they switched direction with Number 8 Jon Skurr and prop Petrus Du Plessis making the hard yards before Jones was sent on his way, a delicate sidestep completely throwing the Chiefs’ centres to trot to the posts unopposed. Riley then completed the scoring with his conversion.

The scoring might have finished on 54 minutes but the battle didn’t, and the Tigers gave as good as they got to leave a positive impression on the welcoming and appreciative Devon crowd.  

EXETER CHIEFS: Kingdom, Luff, M. Fatialofa (Kelly 66), A. Fatialofa, Murdoch, Yapp (Staniforth 73), Barrett (Wilson 33 – blood), Parkes, Nelson (Blythe 62), Liddington (Horn-Smith 62), Brown, Hanks, Walker (Slade 3 – Hodge 75 – injury), Willis, Baxter. Tries: Murdoch (3, 35, 44 & 49), Yapp (10), Penalty try (26) and Slade (44). Conversions: Yapp 4. 

SEDGLEY PARK: Riley, Briers (T. Albinson 45), Hall, Voortman, Craig, Jones (Duffy 61), Wilkinson, Evans (Gazzola 51), Roddam (Keys 66), Du Plessis (Roberts 68), Fourie (Gazzola 33 – sin-bin front row replacement, Swart 53), Norris, Newton (Swart 8 – blood, Livesey 72), Ponton, Skurr. Tries: Hall (23), Jones (42 & 54). Conversions; Riley 3. Yellow card: Evans (26).