For a club with GP ambitions and a monstrous squad one would have thought that one or two of them would be able to master the art of tackling. As it was both Richard Wielding and Villi Ma’asi were able to break tackles as they sprinted for the line. Wielding appeared to be brought down a yard short but the referee made the first of a whole series of bizarre decisions by awarding the try. The Doctor added the extras & Leeds had the best possible start. The home defence did not appear to heed the warning that they were up against  a team full of confidence so we were treated to the spectacle of Villi scattering defenders in his wake as he stormed over from about 25 yards. The Doc converted and Leeds had the 14 points that were never overhauled.

The Chiefs gradually got their game going and were more than a match for Leeds in the set pieces. The line-outs were a complete shambles as Villi unerringly picked out the Exeter locks at every throw-in. The Leeds scrum was also disrupted more often than it should have been and Scott Mathie got very little decent ball to work with. However the Doc was on fine form, taking advantage of the ELV’s to ensure that all his line kicks were dispatched with aplomb. The home back division looked very pedestrian with the exception of  Drauliniu who ran in a good try to get the Chiefs back into the game. Steenson, who to my mind looks to have put on weight , added the extras having earlier kicked a penalty. Unusually for him he missed 3 kickable efforts at goal, any one of which would have won the game if it had gone over.

At 14-10 on the hour the Chiefs were in the ascendancy but the Leeds bench proved to be visitors’ saviours. Rawly came on for Villi and immediately the lineouts looked more secure. Maghee  replaced Fosi and the scrum appeared to settled down. Brooks replaced the injured Barrow and upped the tackle count and young Tom Denton arrived to punch holes in the home defence with some mighty drives. Eight minutes later Joe Bedford came on as the home forwards tired and started to get Leeds going through some phases. Steenson reduced the lead to one point with 5 minutes left on the clock but by this time the home side was spent as an attacking force and Leeds looked the more likely team to score as the 9 minutes of injury time were played out.

It would be wrong to say that the ‘Negies played well because for much of the game they made too many mistakes. However they took the chances that came along and defended superbly once they got their noses in front. This was epitomised by Lee Hinton who was rounded by the home fullback but chased back and tackled him short of the line. Exeter has a big strong pack but the team is short of pace and invention in the back line. This was the home side’s big chance but they blew it. I cannot believe that Neil Back will allow his side to play this badly again. Leeds Carnegie will not be so hospitable when the Chiefs come north in the winter.

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