Late Heartache For Exeter Chiefs In Opener
Exeter Chiefs endured a heartbreaking start to the new Premiership Rugby season after a last gasp loss to Leicester Tigers in the opening fixture of the campaign.
Having gone close to the play-offs last season, hopes were high of a strong start to the season at Sandy Park against a Leicester side that had finished one spot behind the Chiefs in the table in 2023/24.
The first half couldn’t have been much tighter with just a single score, although it would have been two had a penalty from Josh Hodge for the Chiefs not struck the post half-way through the opening half.
Instead it was the Tigers who grabbed the advantage right on half-time when a drop goal from Jamie Shillcock went between the sticks to give the visitors the advantage.
Exeter finally put points on the board seven minutes into the second half when Immanuel Feyi-Waboso played in Greg Fisilau for the first try of the match, with Hodge adding the extras with the boot to give the Vertu Motors-backed side the lead.
Tom Cairns then added a second try – again converted by Hodge – as Exeter went 14-3 clear, although it didn’t take long for Leicester to fight back when Hanro Liebenberg cut the deficit.
Head-to-head contact between Solomone Kata and Jack Yeandle with less than minutes left on the clock saw Kata sent off to leave the Tigers down a man but Exeter then had Will Haydon-Wood in the closing moments – earning him a visit to the sin bin and handing the visitors a late penalty.
The Tigers elected to kick for the corner and the pressure told as Tommy Reffell went over to level the scores, with Ben Volavola adding the conversion to steal the points right at the death.
Exeter now head for Northampton Saints this weekend for the second game of the campaign.