Match Reaction - Ali Hepher
By Mark Stevens
17/10/21
Ali Hepher praised his side’s fighting spirits as Exeter Chiefs maintained their winning streak in the Gallagher Premiership with a hard-fought victory over Wasps.
The Devonians made it three wins on the spin in the top flight at the Coventry Building Society Arena, but they were made to work throughout before securing a 27-23 success.
Jonny Hill’s late try ensured the Chiefs bagged all five points, his effort going alongside further scores from Facundo Cordero, Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade, who also kicked two conversions and a penalty.
In reply, Wasps countered with scores of their own through Dan Frost and Thomas Young, as well as 13 points from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth, but it was never enough to dent the Chiefs, whose second half supremacy finally paid dividends.
“We’ve had some ding-dong battles with Wasps over the years and today was no different,” said Hepher. “We started well and took our opportunities early on, but the thing we need to look at is once we get beyond one score ahead, we sit back, we take a rest and we have a recovery period, which you can’t afford to do against the good sides.
“Wasps fought throughout and put us under a great deal of pressure. At times, I thought some of their defensive sets were phenomenal, but we were pleased with how we adjusted – particularly in the second half – and found a way to win.
“It may have been a bit ugly and not necessarily perfect, but we fought it out and I liked how our spirit came through to get the win. If we’re being honest, that wasn’t there a few weeks ago, but it is now. However, what we have to do moving forward is be a bit more clinical in what we do.”
Down 20-15 at the break, it was Exeter’s second half showing – where they dominated territory and possession – that proved the key difference.
“Lots of sides would have melted away with the way they held us out,” added Hepher. “Full credit to our guys, they kept going, they stuck in there, and in the end we got our rewards. Certainly, we’re looking better than we were a couple of weeks ago when we were bottom of the table, but we’ve got to keep pushing forward.
“We’ve got a little bit of momentum behind us and we’re moving in the right direction. As I said, though, there are still things we need to work on and things we need to get better at. We’ll look at that on Monday and, hopefully, we will be better again next week [against London Irish].”