Exeter grind past Sale, Northampton survives Red Bulls scare

WRAP: Exeter Chiefs maintained their bid for a Prem play-off place with a hard-fought 26-14 victory over Sale Sharks.

The win saw the Chiefs leap into third place in the table, ahead of Leicester and Bristol, who play each other on Sunday.

Sale put up a great fight, but their day was marred when replacement prop WillGriff John was carried off on a stretcher six minutes from time.

Exeter made a flying start in the Devon sunshine, scoring two tries in the opening 12 minutes.

The first came from a blindside attack off a scrum, with back rower Ross Vintcent putting his fellow Italy international Stephen Varney over in the corner.

England centre Henry Slade uncharacteristically missed the conversion and a 40-metre penalty soon after.

However, he was back on target when he added the extras to a try by winger Campbell Ridl after a slick move off a line-out, making it 12 points to Chiefs in as many minutes.

Sale, who chose this game to give a mandatory rest to England duo Luke Cowan-Dickie and George Ford, showed how dangerous they can be in attack when they hit back with a try by skipper Ernst van Rhyn after a quick tap penalty, with Rob du Preez ensuring it was a full seven-pointer.

Chiefs, though, took a grip on the game again when fullback Olly Woodburn crossed, with television match official Dean Richards spotting that a potential knock-on by Slade in the build-up actually saw the ball come off the hand of Rob du Preez.

Slade converted, and the Chiefs took a 19-7 lead into the break.

Exeter had a lucky escape early in the second half when Sale tight-head prop James Harper spilt the ball as he crossed the try line after a period of intense Sharks’ pressure.

However, from the subsequent scrum, Chiefs were shoved off the ball by the impressive Sale eight and Dan du Preez easily dotted down, with brother Rob converting to reduce the deficit to five points.

Chiefs butchered a glorious chance to get their bonus-point try when Paul Brown-Bampoe failed to gather a cross-field kick from Harvey Skinner with the line at his mercy.

It took another 15 minutes before the lively winger got a scoring opportunity but when it came, he took it, racing over under the posts after a wonderful exchange of passes with scrum-half Varney, with Slade’s boot putting Chiefs 12 points up with 15 minutes remaining.

There was a lengthy delay after 74 minutes when front rower John suffered what appeared to be a bad injury and was carried off the pitch to warm applause from the crowd, and with Sale’s two starting props off injured, the game went to uncontested scrums.

Chiefs had another try-scoring chance late on when Skinner intercepted an Owen Davies pass and ran 40 metres, but he was brilliantly tackled just short of the line.

In the earlier games, Gloucester edged Harlequins by 26-19 whilst Northampton Saints suffered a massive scare, edging Newcastle Red Bulls by 28-27.

Gloucester struck first in the fifth minute through Jack Clement as Charlie Atkinson added the extras.

Harlequins scored back-to-back tries through Ben Waghorn and Marcus Smith, with the England utility back converting both scores.

Gloucester went down to 14 players when Lewis Ludlow was sent to the sinbin in the 31st minute.

Despite being a player down, Gloucester had the first say in the second stanza through fullback Ben Radshaw before Jack Kenningham responded for the hosts.

Atkinson and Arthur Clark’s 66th and 72nd-minute tries, both converted by Atkinson, sealed a late comeback win for Gloucester.

At Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton Saints struck in the opening minute through Archie McParland as Anthony Belleau slotted the conversion.

Newcastle replied in the seventh minute through Ollie Leatherbarrow before Elliott Obatoynbo got the visitors in the lead in the 16th minute.

Newcastle suffered a blow when Sammy Arnold was sent to the sinbin.

Ollie Sleightholme replied for Northampton before both sides suffered yellow cards when Adam Brocklebank (Newcastle) and James Ramm of Northampton were sent to the sinbin.

Curtis Langdon scored a converted try in the 54th minute before Connon slotted a penalty to reduce the deficit to 15-21.

Argentine international Simon Benetiez Cruz made it a one-point game in the 71st minute before Tom Litchfield’s converted try edged out an eight-point lead.

Former Crusader flanker Tom Christie scored a 79th-minute converted try as the Saints breathed a sigh of relief to walk away with the narrowest of victories.

Harlequins 19-26 Gloucester

Scorers

For Harlequins:
Tries: Waghorn, Smith, Kenningham,
Cons: Smith 2

For Gloucester:
Tries: Clement, Redshaw, Atkinson, Clark
Cons: Atkinson 3

Yellow card: Lewis Ludlow (Gloucester, 31)

Teams

Harlequins: 15 Nick David, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Ben Waghorn, 12 Bryn Bradley, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Stu Townsend, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Seb Driscoll, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Simon Kerrod
Replacements: 16 Jack Musk, 17 Will Hobson, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Jonny Green, 20 Zach Carr, 21 Lucas Friday, 22 Jamie Benson, 23 Tyrone Green

Gloucester: 15 Ben Redshaw, 14 Will Joseph, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Tomos Williams (captain), 8 Will Trenholm, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Jack Clement, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 2 Jack Innard, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Manaaki Boyle-Tiatia, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Deian Gwynne, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 George Barton, 23 Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Referee: Sara Cox
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson & Wayne Falla
TMO: Karl Dickson

Northampton Saints 28-27 Newcastle Red Bulls

Scorers

For Northampton Saints:
Tries: McParland, Sleightholme, Langdon, Litchfield
Cons: Belleau 4

For Newcastle Red Bulls:
Tries: Leatherbarrow, Obatoyinbo, Benitez-Cruz, Christie
Cons: Connon 2
Pen: Connon

Yellow cards: Sammy Arnold (Newcastle Red Bulls, 20′), Adam Brocklebank (Newcastle Red Bulls, 22′), James Ramm (Northampton Saints, 33)

Teams

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 James Pater, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Tom Litchfield, 11 James Ramm, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Archie McParland, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Tom Lockett, 5 Chunya Munga, 4 Ed Prowse, 3 Luke Green, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom West, 18 Cleopas Kundiona, 19 Aiden Ainsworth-Cave, 20 Charlie Ulcoq, 21 Tom James, 22 Toby Thame, 23 Ollie Sleightholme

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Oli Spencer, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Harrison Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simon Benitez Cruz, 8 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 7 Tom Christie, 6 Reuben Parsons, 5 Adam Scott, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 George McGuigan (captain), 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Murray McCallum, 18 Nicky Little, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Tom Gordon, 21 James Elliott, 22 Rhys Beeckmans, 23 Boeta Chamberlain

Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Adam Leal and John Meredith
TMO: Dan Jones

Exeter Chiefs 26-14 Sale Sharks

Scorers

For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Varney, Ridl, Woodburn, Brown-Bampoe
Cons: Slade 3

For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Van Rhyn, D. Du Preez
Cons: R. Du Preez 2

Teams

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Campbell Ridl, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ross Vintcent, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Julian Heaven, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Finn Worley Brady, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Dan John

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Marius Louw, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Jacques Vermeulen,5 Ben Bamber, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 James Harper, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 1 Si McIntyre,
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Ralph McEachran, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Jos Gilmore, 20 Reuben Logan, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Ollie Davies, 23 Alex Wills

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees: Harry Walbaum and Simon Harding
TMO: Dean Richards