Pellow pleased as Braves go top

By Mark Stevens
20/12/16

Ricky Pellow praised his Exeter Braves side after they moved to the top of the Aviva A League Southern Group with a 36-17 victory over Bristol United on Monday night.

In a dominant display from the defending champions, Bristol struggled to contend with the power and pace of the Braves, who ran in five tries through Michele Campagnaro, Damian Welch, Tom Johnson, Sam Simmonds and Shaun Malton.

Young fly-half Joe Simmonds, on his 20th birthday, again put in another assured display in the number ten jersey, completing the home side’s scoring with a further 11 points with the boot.

Bristol countered with tries from Luke Arscott, Charlie Amesbury and Nick Koster, one of which was converted by Callum Sheedy, but it was scant reward against the Braves, who are now a point clear at the top from Saracens Storm after four games played.

“I’m really pleased with the result and how the guys performed,” said Pellow. “When we saw the Bristol side earlier in the day, with the players they had named and the experience they had within their side, we knew it was going to be a good test for us.

“The first 20 minutes of the game was really physical and neither side was willing to give an inch, but as the game went on we started to get some dominance, particularly up front, and we were able to start scoring some points.

“We showed some real character throughout the side and some of the performances put in by the likes of Tom Johnson, Sam Simmonds, Joe Simmonds and the two young guys on the wing, AJ Cant and Harry Strong, it was all very positive from our perspective.”

Exeter have just one game remaining in the group stages of the competition, away to Gloucester on April 10, and Pellow says the quest to book a place in the last four is far from finished.

“Obviously we’ve gone to the top of the table and that means we’ve put things in our own hands about where we go in the competition,” he added. “It’s a great position to be in, especially heading into the New Year, but we know we still have work to do with Gloucester away still to come.

“What is pleasing from a coaching perspective is that we have again assembled a strong group of players all of whom have bought into what we are trying to achieve in the A League. Whether it’s senior guys like TJ [Johnson], Kai [Horstmann], Haydn [Thomas] or Ben White, they’ve been the glue that binds us all together.

“That experience in the side has allowed some of the youngers guys like AJ Cant, Harry Strong, Jack Owlett and Marcus Street to really grow, whilst we are seeing the strides Joe Simmonds is making from getting that senior experience either here with the Chiefs or down at Plymouth.”