European Challenge Cup
Exeter(19) 31
try: Tchumbadze 2, Dweba, Paradise, Brown-Bampoe shortcoming: Slade 3
Cardiff(0) 0
Bachuki Tchumbadze scored an early brace to help Exeter Chiefs secure victory at home in the last 16 of the European Challenge Cup with a win over revamped Cardiff.
The Chiefs turned the ball over twice during the game at Sandy Park and hooker Joseph Dweba extended the lead to 19-0 at halftime.
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Exeter revamped their forward line after a sluggish start to the second half, with Deweba’s substitute Julian Paradise scoring a bonus point with another try.
Paul Brown-Bampoe added his fifth try for Chiefs in the dying seconds, with Henry Slade converting three times.
Exeter will host Munster in the knockout stages in early April, while Cardiff travel to Benetton.
With Cardiff City making 10 changes to their squad, the home side quickly set about their task, applying pressure and forcing a raft of early penalties.
Although the visitors escaped punishment thanks to a high tackle from Harvey Skinner, Exeter immediately regrouped on the touchline and Tchumbadze scored.
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A subsequent foul on Stephen Varney saw Cardiff’s Rory Thornton sent to the bin and by the time the second row returned to the pitch his side were 19 points behind.
Chubaze’s second try of the game was confirmed by TMO Marius Jonker and just minutes later another dominant line-out and breakaway led to Dweba forcing a breakaway from the corner.
This gave Chiefs a commanding lead on the comeback, but Cardiff raised the quality of their play at the start of the second quarter, running the ball to good effect and winning ground as they forced the home side to counterattack.
Cardiff City looked set to get something rewarded for their efforts when Ioan Lloyd delivered a pass for Tom Bowen to gather and score – only for the knock-on effect in the attack to be ruled out.
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Instead, Exeter scored again after Ethan Roots won possession just outside the touchline and Paradise sprinted towards the whitewash.
The Chiefs ended the game on a high note, with Skinner’s clever pass setting up Brown Bumbo’s late score.
Exeter Chiefs defensive coach Haydn Thomas told BBC Radio Devon:
“The kids played hard in tough conditions. I thought we had great discipline and we took the hard route and didn’t look for any cheap solutions.
“You have to look at how hard the forwards and defenders work, the quality of set-pieces is the basis of it, throw-ins and stuff like that.
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“I thought we were great in terms of our territory, our kicking and hitting hard forward, pick-and-rolls, etc. We were great in the first half, that’s for sure.
“Cardiff City were in the game but we kept fighting and never gave up on anything and came back with a good bonus point try and then had another try at the end which was fantastic.”
Exeter: Woodburn; Fay Waboso, Slade, Hayden Wood, Brown Bambo; Skinner, Varney; Theo, Deweba, Chubaze, Jenkins, Zambonin, Hooper, E. Lutz, James.
Subs: Heaven, Goodrick-Clarke, J Roots, Tuima, Pearson, Capstick, Chapman, Hammersley.
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Cardiff: Beetham; Grady, Smit, Jennings, Bowen; I, Lloyd, Mulder; Southworth, E. Lloyd, Wainwright, McNally, Thornton, Botham, Thomas, Basham.
Substitutes: Hughes, Domachowski, Sebastian, Knott, Lawrence, Cottle, Davis, Wynette.
referee: Griffin Colby
