It is not every day that hail stops play in European rugby but even the spectacular storm that briefly forced the players off in the second half could not halt Exeter’s inexorable drive towards the last eight. Barring the most improbable of twists the Chiefs are through with two rounds to play and, rain or shine, look increasingly well placed for a home draw in the quarter-finals.
Even a solitary losing point from one of their two remaining games against Glasgow and La Rochelle will be sufficient to ensure they finish top of Pool Two and this was another afternoon when they were convincing winners without performing at absolute full throttle.
All five of their tries, however, were expertly banged in from close range and Sale’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond, was philosophical afterwards. “I don’t think any team in the country would stop them from five metres out,” said Diamond. “They’re brilliant at it and I don’t know how you defend it.”
The violent hailstorm that sent match officials and players alike rushing for the tunnel also helped refocus the Chiefs for the final quarter when tries from Ben Moon, playing his 250th game for the club, and Jack Nowell finally nudged the Simmonds clan out of the spotlight. A revitalised Sam Simmonds claimed two of his side’s first three scores with his brother Joe contributing a further 11 points and Luke Cowan-Dickie, for the second week in a row, proving a constant handful.
“From the moment we came back out we were pretty good, weren’t we?” said Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, who was by no means unhappy to see the game interrupted. “I’m not going to complain about decisions like that. It was awful out there.”
Four wins from his side’s opening four pool fixtures, meanwhile, has set up a very different scenario from last season when a home defeat in their European double header with Gloucester scuppered the Chiefs’ European ambitions. This time there has been no hint of complacency and Baxter is still not taking a first home European quarter-final for granted. “Looking at the way the other pools are going to shake up we’re going to have to win at least one more game – and possibly two – if we want to have a home quarter-final,” he warned. “It’s still going to be a challenge.”
It was obvious even before kick-off that Sale’s best chance would involve making best use of the chilly wind initially at their backs. They were briefly ahead via an AJ MacGinty penalty but early in the second quarter the Chiefs finally cranked up a lineout drive and worked the elder Simmonds over next to the posts, with his brother adding the conversion.
It was a family affair all round, with Sale’s lineup including the Curry twins and centres Sam and Luke James. With two former Chiefs, Byron McGuigan and James Phillips, also on the visiting side and with the two teams having met in Salford only last Sunday not many fresh introductions were required in the tunnel beforehand.
Both sides, however, could have been more clinical in attack. Denny Solomona hung on to the ball when a pass to either Sam James or Marland Yarde would almost certainly have yielded a score and a great gallop by Sam Simmonds was halted only when his foot was clipped by the retreating Yarde’s boot with the cover scrambling.
For a while it was a similar story in the second half. Cowan-Dickie broke clear only for a try-creating inside ball to be improbably intercepted by McGuigan, and nice interplay down the left from Ian Whitten and Henry Slade ended with the otherwise quiet Stuart Hogg a fingertip away from touching down.
The Chiefs remained patient, though, and the slow trickle of points gradually became a torrent as Sale’s forwards found themselves under increasing close-quarters pressure. With the Sale hooker Curtis Langdon in the sin-bin, Exeter swiftly took advantage through Joe Simmonds following a succession of strong forward drives and the Sharks incurred yet another penalty when their captain, Jono Ross, was adjudged to have hit Simmonds late as he dived over.
Another familiar Simmonds production, scored by Sam and converted by Joe, stretched the gap before Sale, against the run of play, scored a breakaway try through the persevering Sam James. Sale might have been happy to declare with the score at a respectable 21-10 but, hammered into submission by a combination of the ferocious hail and the relentless Chiefs, they did not have that luxury.
