Exeter could face Saracens after Sam Simmonds punishes La Rochelle
Exeter secured their first home draw in the European Cup quarter-finals and they will return to Sandy Park in the last eight even though the ground’s capacity falls 1,400 short of the required minimum of 15,000. Rather than take the match, which depending on how results go on Sunday could be against a disgraced Saracens, to a venue miles away, the organisers have exercised discretion.
Exeter were some way from their best, especially in the first half when they were careless and distracted against opponents with only a mathematical chance of making the last eight, twice switching off after scoring a try, but they dominated the game after the break having reverted to a more direct approach as they extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches.
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Eddie Jones announces his England squad for the Six Nations on Monday and a number of the home side’s players gave him a final nudge, not least the Simmonds brothers, Joe and Sam. The former, piloting the side from fly‑half, scored what would have been the try of the opening period, looping around and making a gliding outside break, but Ian Whitten was ruled to have obstructed Ihaia West in the buildup.
The latter settled the match in the third quarter after the sides had gone into the interval level at 14-14. He scored two tries, the first after a quickly taken penalty by Luke Cowan-Dickie, one of the few Exeter players who was on it from the kick-off, and the second from a scrum, a set piece the Chiefs dominated despite the presence of Uini Atonio, a tighthead who comes in at a few feathers under 24st, in the visiting front row.
Atonio spent much of the evening on the floor, either after collapsing a scrum or because he needed treatment, before retiring from the fray at the break. He made one notable break, powering through and away from Sam Hill to set up the position from which La Rochelle scored their first try through the Fiji wing Kini Murimurivalu, but he summed up La Rochelle: starting but not finishing.
This year marks Exeter’s 10th anniversary in the Premiership and it is the season in which they have cracked the group stage in the Champions Cup. They way they changed the course of the game, from fickle to focused, was impressive. They received instruction from their director of rugby, Rob Baxter, but as he said: “You can talk all you want but the players have to take it in their own hands.”
Exeter scored their first try after 11 minutes, Cowan-Dickie finishing off a driving maul, but dropped passes and a charged-down kick betrayed an anxiety at being on unfamiliar turf, professing for a home quarter-final. When Dave Ewers finished off a quickly taken penalty, they did not settle down.
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West’s chip into space was picked up by Geoffrey Doumayrou, who passed inside to Vincent Rattez on Exeter’s 22. As the full-back looked to take the ball, Stuart Hogg stuck out his right hand and knocked it forward. The referee Frank Murphy immediately sent the Scotland full-back to the sin-bin and asked for a review of the incident to determine whether Rattez would probably have scored a try had Hogg not palmed the ball. The evidence of the night, when one handling error followed another, suggested not, but when the replay was paused at the moment Hogg knocked on Rattez had a clear run to the line.
In real time, it looked as if Sam Simmonds would have had a chance of catching Rattez, but the decision was a mere road bump. There are few sides more ruthless than Exeter when it comes to sustaining pressure and, apart from a horrible knock-on by Rattez, La Rochelle were in the second half little more than training ground fodder. Ollie Devoto, who was in Eddie Jones’s first England 23, gave the coach a reminder with a break from his own half that set up Stu Townsend for Exeter’s fifth try.
As the players left the field, news of Saracens’ relegation from the Premiership at the end of the season broke, but the celebrations here were for what had been achieved rather than the humbling of their rivals.
