Exeter Chiefs 45 London Scottish 19

One of Rob Baxter’s most trusted on-field leaders, the 34-year-old continues to lead by example as the Chiefs kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 45-19 victory over visiting London Scottish at Sandy Park.

Brought on at half-time in this first outing of the new season, Yeandle wasted little time in making his mark following his return from a knee injury that sidelined him for the latter stages of last season.

The experienced hooker scored two of his side’s six tries in their success against the Exiles, who offered plenty during a well-contested first half, but faded once push came to shove after the break.

Alongside Yeandle, Ben Hammersley, Nick Lilley, Noah Fenton, Lucas Dorrell and debutant Jimmy Roots also found their way over the whitewash with Josh Hodge kicking the rest of the home side’s points.

In reply, No.8 Ioan Rhys Davies, Austin Wallis and Alex Wardell all found their way over for tries, two of which were converted by fly-half Tom Wilstead, but that was all they could muster as Exeter’s power, pace and precision proved too much for them in the final shake-up.

Earlier in the contest, though, it was Scottish who came out firing, breaking the game’s deadlock inside the opening minute as neat work from Wilstead craved the opening for Rhys Davies to crash over.

Hardly the start the Chiefs would have craved, the home response was swift and certainly emphatic.

Indeed, it took them just a few minutes to restore parity. With the forwards carrying hard into enemy territory, it allowed the ball to be shipped wide to playmaker Will Haydon-Wood, whose looped pass to the right fell invitingly into the grasp of Hammersley, who did the rest with a simple finish.

It was neat enough stuff from the Chiefs in attack, but defensively they looked somewhat ring-rusty. Too often their alignment in rushing up was wayward, allowing Scottish to pick open the holes that were left behind.

A brilliant cover tackle from Josh Hodge denied Scottish wing Noah Ferdinand a certain try, before quick-thinking at a line-out involving Dan Nutton and Wallis saw the latter catch the Chiefs napping, before he raced down the right flank to score a second converted try in the right corner.

Again, the Chiefs were quick to counter in terms of their response, replacement Lilley stepping his way to the try-line after more good approach work created space for Haydon-Wood, who drew in the cover before shipping a lovely, one-handed offload into the path of the young centre.

As half-time approached, so the Chiefs started to take a firmer grip on proceedings, eventually taking the lead when Fenton, another first half replacement, was able to apply the finish after the home pack had been held from a close-range line-out move.

Joe Bailey and the impressive Haydon-Wood could have added to the Chiefs tally before the break, but both were held up on the line by some heroic defence from the Londoners.

The break came at a useful time for the visitors, who used the interval as a chance to regroup and get their plan for the second half firmly into place.

Whatever was said, it clearly had the desired effect as Scottish re-emerged in much the same vein as they started the match. Quickly on the attack, they themselves used a five-metre line-out as the springboard for them to work the opening for summer signing Wardell to claim a score on his debut for the club.

Sadly for the visitors, that would be as good as it got for them as the Chiefs soon regained their rhythm – and with it came a plethora of points to the scoreline.

Yeandle stole over for his first of the afternoon, when he attached himself to the back of a maul just before the hour mark to make it 26-19 – and he was followed over the line by fellow forward James just five minutes later.

A Junior World Cup winner during the summer, James showed his power and scent for scoring when he picked up from the base of a Chiefs scrum to drive over from ten metres out.

Both sides threw on replacements to glean some much-needed game time, but it was the Chiefs who finish with a flourish. Yeandle bagged his second on 67 minutes, producing a near carbon-copy of his earlier score, before Roots, a summer capture from Ealing Trailfinders, rounded things off when he bulldozed his way over for a seventh score.

Chiefs: J Hodge; C Ridl, B Hammersley (N Lilley 16-30), J Hawkins (N Lilley 72), K Gentry (N Fenton 33); W Haydon-Wood (B Coen 63), S Maunder (T Cairns 55); S Sio (c, B Keast 40), M Norey (J Yeandle 40, J Forsythe 72), J Iosefa-Scott (J Roots 40); J Bailey, E O’Connor; R Capstick, M Moloney, K James.

Tries – Hammersley, Lilley, Fenton, James, Yeandle (2), J Roots; Conversions – Hodge (5);

Scottish: J Holmes (J Law 52); N Ferdinand (J Parkhurst 64), W Talbot-Davies, W Simonds (G Morison 46), W Brown, T Wilstead (H Sheppard 52), D Nutton (cc, A Lloyd-Seed 52); W Prior (J Musk 39, G Cave 59), A Wallis, C Ashworth; J Spurway, A Wardell (T Tyson 68); B Ransom (cc), J Ingall, I Rhys Davies.

Tries – Rhys Davies, Wallis, Wardell; Conversions – Wilstead (2);  

Referee: D Jones

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