Chiefs lose final pre-season outing

Exeter Chiefs lost their final pre-season outing as Glasgow’s attacking prowess came out on top at Sandy Park,writes Mark Stevens.

Welshman Tom James scored a brace of tries for the Chiefs and fly-half Gareth Steenson kicked the rest of the points, but two tries from Byron McGuigan and one each from Alex Dunbar and Mark Bennett saw the visitors come through to win.

Steenson opened the scoring with a penalty after just three minutes as the Chiefs started well, but opposite number Scott Wight levelled things up two minutes later as Dave Ewers gave away a penalty at a ruck.

Haydn Thomas’ chip deep in Glasgow territory was the start of a period of pressure for Exeter that saw the Scottish outfit again get on the wrong side at a ruck to give Steenson an easy three points.

Back came Glasgow again and, with their forwards looking dangerous as they drove forward from a line-out, Exeter prop Brett Sturgess was shown a yellow card by referee Wayne Barnes for collapsing the maul.

With a man advantage, Glasgow pressed for another score but good defence from the home side kept them at bay. That was until a kick ahead rebounded off a couple of players and winger Byron McGuigan hacked on and dotted down in the left corner.

Wight missed the touchline conversion. With Exeter back up to a full complement of players, they went back in front as Steenson landed his third penalty after Ben White was stopped just short and Barnes had spotted another infringement at a ruck. Steenson missed a fourth penalty attempt before Glasgow came storming back.

They kicked a penalty to touch and the forwards worked the play towards the posts and created an overlap for McGuigan to finish off out wide again. This time Wight added the extras.

The visitors, who led 15-9 at the break, kept their attacking game going in the second half and centre Alex Dunbar burst through Carl Rimmer’s attempted tackle to dot down and Wight slotted the conversion.

However, referee Barnes’ patience ran out as he showed a yellow card to skipper Henry Pyrgos for killing the ball to allow Steenson to kick another penalty.

And the Chiefs took advantage of the extra man as Will Chudley picked out Tom James, who replaced an injured Luke Arscott before half-time, and he cut inside and showed the defence a clean pair of heels to score, with Steenson kicking the conversion.

Glasgow were not finished yet as Bennett finished off a counter-attack that Finn Russell converted and that proved crucial as the visitors held on to win. James crossed for a second try with the last play of the game as Chris Whitehead took a scrum against the head and Chudley spun the ball out to the Welsh winger, who twisted over the line for Steenson to convert.

Head coach Rob Baxter will be looking for improvements in several areas when the Aviva Premiership starts next weekend.

Picture: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency

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