If Bristol were looking for an example of what passionate home support can do for a side emerging from the Championship they need look no further than 80 miles down the M5. It is some tribute to the distance Exeter have come that this dismantling of a recently mighty outfit, never once anywhere near the Championship, felt quite so routine. Leicester may have taken an early lead but by half-time they were looking wobbly and by full completely at sea.
Rumours of discontent at Welford Road under Matt O’Connor’s regime were far from dispelled by this leaden-footed performance, the 40 points and six tries feeling no less than was deserved by either the side who scored or conceded them, even if 26 and four were rattled up in the final quarter.
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Leicester, notwithstanding the stewardship of the England half-backs and a host of other internationals besides, offered next to nothing in attack, bar a couple of forceful charges by Manu Tuilagi on the diminutive Gareth Steenson in the second half and another in the first by Dave Denton, whose debut was the one positive for the visitors.
“We know the standard now,” said O’Connor. “We know what’s required, but we’ll be better for the 80 minutes. We have to learn and learn fast.”
Exeter took their time to loosen up but by the end the avalanche of possession and points felt familiar. The Chiefs received a certain amount of criticism towards the end of last season about their possession game with its endless recycling. Certainly, they hogged the ball again, around twice the amount of Leicester, although Wayne Barnes, embarking on his farewell tour, allowed more than enough of a contest at the breakdown.
Matt Kvesic, so long the coming man and recently in danger of becoming the forgotten, must feel it is now or never for him. Given a start in game one, he thrived.
“We’re starting to see the real Matt Kvesic again,” said Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby. “He looks like a man who’s been denied food. He wants his fill of rugby.”
The renowned defensive work was in evidence as ever but here Kvesic brandished an attacking dimension to his game, his breaks paving the way for both Exeter’s first-half scores and his close-quarter physicality earning the fifth for himself.
The first did not arrive until approaching the half-hour, by which point the Chiefs trailed 6-0. Joe Ford’s pair of penalties, one from a scrum, one when a quick tap caught Exeter offside after Brendan O’Connor’s turnover, earned the visitors an unlikely lead.
All the defending seemed to take its toll, though. Exeter worked some yards down the right, then Phil Dollman broke down the left, before Kvesic cut inside Greg Bateman and found Alec Hepburn. Amid the resultant goalline scramble, Olly Woodburn reached out for the game’s first try. The second followed three minutes from half-time and felt very familiar, not least through it being scored by Sam Simmonds. Kvesic’s mini-break was followed by a bigger one by Simmonds, who was on hand again to batter over from close range.
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Still more familiar was their third, coming after a third quarter in which the alacrity of the jackals to turn over ball had, if anything, diminished the flow. At the start of the fourth, an attacking lineout set up Exeter’s beloved close-quarter-hit-up routine. It fell to Luke Cowan-Dickie, just on, to complete the remorseless progress to Leicester’s line.
That sealed the game, at 21-6, and a rather more elegant score three minutes later secured the bonus point, Henry Slade, also just on, in support of Sam Skinner’s apt running line. More misery was heaped on Leicester in the last five minutes, the artistic merit increasing with each of Exeter’s tries. Kvesic claimed the fifth, before a glorious break and offload by Slade set up Ian Whitten.
Sandy Park was rocking with the euphoria. The West Country seems ready to usurp the East Midlands at the beating heart of English rugby.