Chiefs U18s 38 Bristol U18s 19
Exeter Chiefs U18s 38
Bristol U18s19
Mark Stevens at Sandy Park
Exeter Chiefs Under-18s returned to winning ways in this season’s Premiership U18s League with a six-try victory over visiting Bristol at Sandy Park.
Converted late tries from Francesco Scardamaglia and Bryn-Lee Jago helped the Chiefs to collect their second victory of the campaign, after Bristol had threatened to upset the apple cart in an entertaining encounter.
Having led 12-7 at the break thanks to tries from Flynn Elworthy and Will Ridout, one of which was converted by James Tucker, the Chiefs had to dig deep in the second period as Bristol fought back.
Centre Nathan Chamberlian grabbed nine of the visiting points to go alongside scores from George Kloska and Blake Boyland.
However, the Chiefs were not to be denied as they added further tries through Richard Capstick (2) and the late brace from Scardamaglia and Jago. Fly-half Olly Toomey landed three conversions to complete the scoring.
Looking to bounce back after their defeat at Gloucester last time out, the Chiefs got off to the perfect start, opening the scoring inside five minutes. No.8 Rus Tuima and prop Alfie Petch were both involved in the build-up, carrying hard into the Bristol 22 before the ball was fed out to Elworthy, who ran a lovely line to burst through the heart of the visiting defence.
The Chiefs threatened shortly after, again using their pack to punch significant holes into the Bristol rearguard. On this occasion, though, they could not turn their territory into points with the visitors holding them up just short of the try-line.
Having soaked up the home pressure, it was then the turn of the visitors to go on the offensive and with their first meaningful venture into the Exeter 22, they grabbed their opening try when hooker Will Capon provided the pop pass for Kloska to dive in under the posts, Chamberlian adding the extras with the simple conversion.
Frustrated by conceding the score, the Chiefs looked to hit back almost immediately. Kian Atkinson threatened initially when he collected a decent high ball on the charge, then Elworthy and Tuima combined neatly, only for the latter to offload into a Bristol hand, rather than that of a team-mate.
Undeterred, the Chiefs continued to press forward and when the lively Tuima linked neatly with Atkinson, sending the winger racing towards the line at a rate of knots, the home pack converged quickly onto the scene to set up the opening for hooker Ridout to cross from close range. This time round Tucker was able to convert to put his side 12-7 up at the break.
Just a minute into the second half and the Chiefs were threatening again, fly-half Olly Toomey breaking down the left touchline on an attacking raid, which saw him chip in behind only for Bristol to get back in the nick of time as he looked to touchdown.
The let off proved short-lived for the visitors as in the very next attack, the hosts extended their lead when England Under-18s international Capstick drove over from close range for their third try of the afternoon.
Bristol looked to hit back immediately, forging an opening for the industrious Capon, but he was swallowed up by two home defenders as he looked to pick a way through the home defensive line.
Despite being thwarted on that occasion, Bristol attacked again just moments later, this time pinning the Chiefs back on their own try-line with a kick chase in behind. From the resultant five-metre scrum, Boyland caught the home side napping as he scooted down the blindside for a score in the right corner.
Although Chamberlian failed to land the testing touchline conversion, the Bristol man made no mistake just three minutes later when he added the additional two points to his own score, the centre picking a lovely line to drive over by the posts.
Chamberlian could - and probably should - have extended Bristol’s lead, but he missed a straight-forward penalty after the Chiefs were pulled up for infringing at a ruck bang on their own 22.
At the other end, the home side looked to counter immediately as strong from Tuima, then Francesco Scardamaglia forced a penalty just inside the Bristol half. Sadly, Toomey’s long-range effort failed to find the mark.
Exeter’s cause was not helped when they had centre Robbie Weeks yellow-carded for a high tackle. Despite being down a man, the Chiefs actually rediscovered their attacking flow and following a sustained spell of pressure they regained the lead when Scardamaglia snuck over in the left corner for their bonus point score.
Toomey landed the conversion to that score and to Capstick’s second which arrived late on when the openside flanker was able to gallop through the middle and under the posts to put the Chiefs in command at 31-19.
The Chiefs weren’t done there and in the final embers of the match, they added a sixth try when replacement Jago was driven over from a well-crafted catch and drive line-out just five metres from the Bristol line. Again, Toomey landed a sublime conversion to put the seal on a decent win for the Devonians.
Chiefs Under-18s: J Tucker (D Lilley h/t); K Atkinson, L Flack (F Scardamaglia h/t), R Weeks, A Hill; O Toomey, S Maunder (capt, J Tait 66); A Petch (E Salt 69), W Ridout (H Dunn 70), H Trudgill (O Andrews 28); L Pearson (C Teague 56), J Parker-Cooke; F Elworthy (B-L Jago 69), R Capstick, R Tuima.
Tries - Elworthy, Ridout, Capstick (2), Scardamaglia, Jago; Conversions - Tucker, Toomey (3);
Bristol Under-18s: I Lloyd; J Bates, C Powell, N Chamberlain, I Hughes (W Hughes 58); T Wilstead (S Hutchings 62), B Boyland (B Roach 55); C Brabham (S Ihegie 69), W Capon (capt, O Newey 69), N English (J Burley 64); G Brazier, N Smith, T Ford (M Murphy 9, J Goodridge 33), E Organ, G Kloska.
Tries - Kloska, Boyland, Chamberlian; Conversions - Chamberlian (2)
Referee: R Waller