Exeter thrash Castres to secure home tie in last 16 of Champions Cup
Exeter secured a home tie in the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 after beating Castres 40-3 at Sandy Park.
The Chiefs required a bonus-point victory to guarantee a top-four finish in Pool A, and they duly delivered despite never remotely hitting top gear.
They were helped by Castres’ woeful indiscipline that saw number eight Feibyan Tukino sent off for a dangerous tackle just before half-time, while flankers Baptiste Delaporte and Mathieu Babillot were both yellow-carded, along with prop Aurelien Azar.
It meant that the visitors were briefly reduced to 12 players, yet Exeter did not secure a five-point maximum until seven minutes from time through a second penalty try.
England internationals Henry Slade, Sam Simmonds and Jack Nowell also touched down, as did Wales forward Christ Tshiunza, in addition to a first-half penalty try, with Slade kicking two conversions and Joe Simmonds one.
Castres were restricted to an early Ben Botica penalty, and while it was a game that will not live long in the memory, 2020 European champions Exeter will feel relieved to have got the job done.
Castres’ misery in top-flight European competition continues, though, as they suffered an eighth successive defeat and 20th reversal on the bounce away from home.
Exeter showed five changes for their final pool game, including starts for centre Rory O’Loughlin, prop James Kenny and Jannes Kirsten, who partnered Dafydd Jenkins in the second-row.
Castres, eliminated before they arrived in Devon following three successive defeats, predictably made wholesale switches, fielding only three starting line-up survivors from last weekend’s home loss to Edinburgh.
Botica kicked Castres ahead through a 40-metre penalty and Exeter looked lethargic during the opening 15 minutes.
The Chiefs’ discipline was poor and skipper Slade twice made handling errors under little pressure as Castres made life distinctly uncomfortable.
Exeter’s scrum came under intense pressure during the opening quarter and Botica was narrowly wide with another long-range penalty attempt after the Chiefs’ latest set-piece infringement.
Wing Olly Woodburn was the one player who tested Castres’ defence early on, and Exeter finally put together a meaningful passage of play that resulted in a 26th-minute try for Slade.
Woodburn and prop Josh Iosefa-Scott made initial inroads before hooker Jack Innard cut the line and delivered a scoring pass to Slade, who converted his own try.
Exeter looked to add a second score before the interval and their cause was helped when Delaporte received a yellow card from referee Andrew Brace.
Castres then went down to 12 players during a shambolic finish to the first half from their perspective.
Tukino saw red, then from the resulting lineout, captain Babillot illegally collapsed a maul and Brace awarded a penalty try before sending the Castres skipper packing.
It meant that Castres had lost their entire starting back-row through two yellows and one red in the space of four minutes, and Exeter took a 14-3 lead into the break.
Exeter still lacked fluency, despite their numerical advantage, and it took them 13 minutes of the second period to add a third try, which arrived in trademark fashion.
Castres had no answer as the Chiefs pack drove a close-range lineout, and Simmonds touched down before Slade’s conversion took Exeter past 20 points.
Exeter struggled to stitch threatening phase-play together and it was no surprise when the bonus-point arrived from a driven maul, with Castres collecting another yellow card as Azar was sin-binned, then Nowell and Tshiunza pounced in the dying minutes.
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John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
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