And here's The Telegraph:
Exeter begin 2021 with reality check as Wasps 'out-Chiefs' visiting side in thumping victory at the Ricoh
If you cannot beat them, join them. In October’s Premiership final, Wasps were the apprentices as Exeter showed all the ruthless efficiency that one would expect of domestic and European masters. Here, however, the tables turned. Wasps were hungrier, more ferocious, and more clinical as they overwhelmed the Chiefs, ending their six-match Premiership winning streak in bonus-point style to partially avenge that final defeat.
Exeter were never in it. In recent memory, it is difficult to remember them looking so bereft and inaccurate. On numerous occasions, the Chiefs were unable to convert threatening field position into points. In the first half, they got to within the Wasps try line on two occasions, and on both occasions they came away point-less. It is difficult to remember them being so ‘out-Exetered’.
The Ricoh Arena is not the happiest of hunting grounds for the Chiefs; this was their first loss in the league since also losing in Coventry back at the beginning of October, where they were hammered 46-5. The common denominator for both losses is that Exeter were missing several internationals; in October they were largely second-string, but here they still brought enough class and firepower to win on a bone-chilling day in the West Midlands.
Wasps, led by the colossal Joe Launchbury, were ultimately too good, using a Chiefs blueprint to scrap for a comfortable victory. Their scrum was magnificent, their defensive willingness unfaltering, while their accuracy and alacrity in the tight exchanges – tap-and-go penalties included – was more than just a little reminiscent of the Chiefs. They also outwitted and outmuscled Exeter at the breakdown. It was more than telling, too, that forwards scored four of Wasps’ five tries – two each for flanker James Gaskell and replacement prop Simon McIntyre.
The only blot on this performance for Wasps head coach Lee Blackett was the injury to yet another back-rower, Jack Willis. The flanker was phenomenal again until he was replaced at half-time with a spasm to the hip area. His head coach “hopes it is not too serious”.
“We're really pleased with the result and the performance,” Blackett said. “It was built off a really good defensive performance and the pack as well. They really fronted up. A lot of energy went into it. Both sides tired at times because of the amount of energy that was used, especially up front.”
His counterpart, Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter, offered no excuses for the “tough” loss.
“It is very rare for us but we knew Wasps were going to be tough today,” he said. “They had returning players and we just haven’t played well enough. Rugby is a pretty honest game, you tend to win games you deserve to win and you tend to lose games you deserve to lose.
“We have just got to accept it and take ownership. It is not just about winning it is about learning to deal with losing.”
After the first of Gaskell’s tries, which came after an irrepressible salvo of phases on the Exeter line, it was somewhat surprising that Wasps only took an eight-point lead into half-time. In part, that might have been down to the season’s pantomime villain, referee Ian Tempest, in cahoots with the two ugly sisters, his assistants. How they were unable to identify the home side’s ascendancy at the scrummage remains a mystery.
But Wasps also had themselves to blame, as they spurned the most elementary of try-scoring chances at the end of the first half, with wing Paolo Odogwu failing to link up with his outside backs; two of them could have scored blindfolded, such was the simplicity of the run-in.
The officials took centre stage once again shortly after, too, when Exeter flanker Richard Capstick’s shoulder struck Jacob Umaga in the head. The Wasps fly-half slipped suddenly to the ground before impact, so Capstick might not have seen red, but the review, if it even took place, was unforgivably cursory.
As the mercury slowly plummeted and the skies grew bleaker, the sleet began to pour and an eight-point lead looked priceless. Capstick’s remarkable solo score for Exeter, where Tom Willis and Lima Sopoaga were limp defensively, cut the deficit to three points, but that would be the zenith of the visitors’ uncharacteristic afternoon.
Gaskell’s second was the pick of the Wasps tries, as silky, swift interplay between replacement Jeff Toomaga-Allen and Launchbury allowed the fleet-footed blindside to stretch his legs to the line. He hadn’t scored a try for two years until last weekend; now he has three in two matches.
At 15-5, however, there was always a sense that Exeter could fight back, such is their belligerence. But, with the Chiefs errors mounting and their discipline fading, Wasps turned the physicality up to 11. Wing Josh Bassett, who is always a handful, crashed heartily into two Exeter defenders from a first-phase move, and his deft offload put Sopoaga away in the resultant space. That ended all hopes of a Chiefs revival.
With Capstick sin-binned for a cynical barge into scrum-half Dan Robson, Wasps sniffed an unlikely bonus point, which McIntyre’s late double from close-range sealed. After their unprecedented, historic 2020, Exeter begin 2021 with a reality check.
Topic: Guardian Review of match with comments (Read 931 times)
Always a Wasp