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EXETER CHIEFS 48
SEDGLEY TIGERS 11

National Division One

Bigger, faster, harder-hitting; the benefits of a full-time approach were there for all to see, the Chiefs even more professional then they were the last time these two met in the final game of last season which they won 43-21.

However, for the first 15 minutes the Tigers looked to have the measure of their opponents, with their kicking game and forward pressure keeping the Chiefs penned into their own half, forcing them into errors.

Debutant fly-half Steve Nutt made the most of the opportunities presented to him by kicking a brace of penalties on two and nine minutes to put the visitors into a deserved 3-6 lead; a third kick rebounding into play off an upright.

The Chiefs’ reply coming from another player making his debut, fly-half Danny Gray, who had the left-hand post to thank for his three-pointer.

But then two things happened: The Tigers began to cough the ball up and relinquish possession with a failing kicking game and the Chiefs began to take advantage of poor first-up tackling to put the result beyond doubt with five tries in 27 minutes.

Matt Riley’s clearance kick served to set-up an expansive Chiefs’ attack with hooker Sam Blythe offloading to debutant prop John Andress and he surprised the Tigers’ defenders with his pace to go over by the left-hand corner flag.

With the Chiefs’ pressure forcing the Tigers into errors a rolling maul following a successful 22-metre line-out take saw the skipper Richard Baxter feed Gray, who then sent winger Jason Luff on his way, converted by Gray.

It became 22-6 on 22 minutes when a poor Nutt kick was fielded by the Chiefs’ close season capture from the Navy, flying Fijian wing Joshua Drauniniu, who showed pace, power and poise to evade the Tigers’ attempts to stop him going over by the posts to give Gray an easy conversion.

Drauniniu was at it again 10 minutes later when two successive penalties ground the Tigers’ down before call-ball won at a five-metre lineout was fed back to Drauniniu hugging the touchline and he cantered over from close range to seal the bonus point.

Try five arrived six minutes later when Luff took a return pass from flanker Chad Slade, after Drauniniu had used his pace to make valuable ground. Gray’s third conversion made it 34-6 to the home side at the turnaround.

Whatever Tim Fourie and Andy Northey said at the break certainly had an effect in the second half. Ball retention improved and on 58 minutes the Tigers showed they can think as quickly as anyone to run in their try.

From a scrum on the Chiefs’ 22, Number 8 Jon Skurr’s timely pick-and-feed was improved by Jamie Albinson, whose show-and-go completely wrong-footed the Chiefs cover and he scooted over for a five pointer.

But the Chiefs’ superior fitness was again there for all to see with further tries from replacement prop Saul Nelson, another front-rower whose speed saw off the Tigers’ tacklers, and replacement flanker Tom Johnson, another whose fleetness of foot left Sedgley backs in his wake in his sprint for the line.

Two more Gray two-pointers saw the final score read 48-11 as the brave and committed Tigers again fall to a well conditioned, well prepared and well drilled professional outfit destined on this showing to give Northampton Saints a run for their promotion money.

You can only play against the side in front of you and when those sides are of the calibre of the Chiefs, who must have the best set-up in ND1 at Sandy Park, certainly the best pitch, then it is always going to be a test, but the Tigers can hold their heads high as the gulf between full and part-time was there for all to see.

SEDGLEY TIGERS: Riley, T.Albinson (De Jager 67), Hall, Payne, Van DeVenter (Livesey 82), Nutt, J.Albinson (Wilkinson 73), Du Plessis, Roddam (Keys 82), Halsall, Fourie, Crous, Newton, Ponton (C), Skurr.
Replacements not used: Birchall, Norris and Townson.
Try: J.Albinson 58.
Penalties: Nutt 2 & 9.

EXETER CHIEFS: Breeze, Luff, M.Fatialofa, A.Fatialofa, Drauniniu, Gray, Stuart-Smith, Kingsland, Blythe, Andress, Stevenson, Hanks, Slade, Miller, Baxter (C).
Replacements: Nelson, Parkes, Willis, Johnson, Wilson, Kelly, Ward.