Exeter Chiefs gain narrow victory over Northampton Saints - but there are lessons to be learned

Sunday's away fixture saw the Exeter Chiefs just scrape a very narrow victory over a 14-man Northampton Saints side.

It was the penultimate match of the season for the Chiefs, and after their stunning 74-3 win over Newcastle last week, this game likely came as a bit of a shock.

The first half

A clever try from Northampton just six minutes after kickoff put Exeter five points down.

But an early red card for Saints' second row Ribbans after a high tackle on Luke Cowan-Dickie saw their team reduced to 14 men after 13 minutes of play.

Despite this, Northampton scored another try after Hutchinson chased down his own stunning grubber kick straight through the Chiefs' defence.

Northampton then went for a rare drop goal just before half-time, cementing their 18-0 lead.

The second half

It looked like it was all over at half time, but the Chiefs launched a quick and ferocious attack and the forwards saw the ball over the line in a powerful surge of pick-and-gos.

Some fabulous skills from the backs just minutes later saw Joe Simmonds launch the ball over the other side of the field and a pop from Whitten to Stuart Hogg secured another try for the Chiefs.

These two tries still left the scoreboard looking a bit hopeless at 21-12, until at 57 minutes the substituted Stuart Townsend saw his chance and peeled off the back of a maul and darted over the line to score for the Chiefs.

Just two minutes later, the Saints exploited an overlap in the Chiefs' backs and scored for the first time in the second half.

But the Chiefs weren't prepared to go down without a fight, and Stuart Townsend again rushed through the Northampton defence and a quick offload to Devoto saw the Chiefs equalise with the scoreboard at 26-26.

Only a 74-minute penalty saw the Chiefs edge their way to victory, with the final score 29-26.

A dangerous attack from Northampton in the final moments of the game saw Chiefs fans biting their nails, but a mistake from the Saints with a forward pass brought the match to a close.

Is Sam Simmonds injured?

Despite hobbling off the pitch with an apparent ankle injury, Director of Rugby Rob Baxter thinks that it could just be minor.

He told Chiefs media: "We didn't take him off because it was a clear 'that's it, he's done'. I thought let's get on with things and keep the momentum in the game.

"It could be very minor. It is one of those things. We will take everything into account, and if the right thing medically is for him not to play against Sale (next Saturday), then he won't."

The reaction

Rob Baxter continued: "The first half was one type of performance, whilst the second was a completely separate type of performance.

"From our own perspective, we didn't really turn up ready to fight in that first half.

"Things in our game were noticeably poor and we quickly went off script. That said, we managed to get back on track in that second half and we decided to fight.

"For the neutral, that was probably an incredible game to watch, whilst for us as coaches it was absolutely horrendous.

"Now, we've got to use this next week as best we can, turnaround quickly and get ready for what will be another huge challenge this Saturday.

"In a lot of ways, I think this game will serve us well because it's the kick up the pants we needed at this time."

While the Chiefs are sitting comfortably in second place, they could be ousted in Saturday's match by third-place Sale Sharks - which would lead to Sale getting the home advantage in the upcoming play offs.

Kickoff will be at 3pm on Saturday 12 June at Sandy Park.