Chiefs kick off pre-season programme on a high with win at Parc Y Scarlets

by Mark Stevens

Scarlets 15 Exeter Chiefs 23

Exeter Chiefs kicked-off their pre-season programme on a high note as they overcame Welsh outfit Scarlets at the Parc Y Scarlets.

In the first of three friendlies for Rob Baxter’s side ahead of their Aviva Premiership opener at Northampton Saints on 7 September, the Chiefs produced a solid display in the Principality.

Tries from locks Damian Welch and Will Carrick-Smith, together with successful kicks from Gareth Steenson and Henry Slade, were certainly the highlights for the visitors, but Baxter will also have been impressed by a number of individual displays.

With Baxter having strengthened his ranks with a number of new faces during the summer, it was only winger Tom James – a capture from Cardiff Blues – who was included from the outset. The remainder of the Chiefs line-up had a familiar feel to, including Aussie international Dean Mumm, who has assumed captaincy duties for the new season from Tom Hayes.

The Scarlets – who the Chiefs defeated twice in last season’s Heineken Cup – also had a similar set of troops on show for battle, but it was fly-half Shingler, who was rejoining the Welsh region after a stint at London Irish – that gave the home side the lead. 

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter praised his side’s attitude and commitment saying, “First and foremost we’ve come out of a hard fought game with a decent victory and feeling pretty good about quite a few things in our play.

"I think unfortunately for ourselves and the Scarlets, conditions dictated that we had to adapt our game somewhat. We probably had to do a bit more kicking, chasing and defending rather than play any multi-phase stuff, so that’s a bit of a shame.

“At the same time, it does test other parts of your game and for large parts I was pretty pleased with how we went. Of course there are things that we will need to work on over the next few weeks, but for a first outing I think we can be relatively happy with how we went about things.”

For the full match report click here.

Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency