Exeter consolidate top position with 28-45 win over London Irish

London Irish 28-45 Exeter Chiefs, Madejski Stadium
Scorecard

Exeter Chiefs came up with a dominating first half performance as they completed a 28-45 win over London Irish in their Gallagher Premiership encounter at Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

This is Exeter's sixth win from eight games as they consolidated the top position in the table with 29 points while London Irish are at 10th place with 13 points.

As England coach Eddie Jones was among the spectators, Exeter opened their account in the seventh minute when Sam Hill crossed over and Gareth Steenson followed with the conversion to make it 0-7.

The response from the Exiles came in the 16th minute when Belgium Tuatagaloa dotted down and Stephen Myler improved it but soon they had their Australia international Adam Coleman leaving the field injured.

The Sandy Park outfit doubled their tally by the 33rd minute when skipper Dave Dennis dotted down while Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Devoto also followed the suit. Steenson kicked all the three conversions to make the scoreline 7-28.

The opening stages of the second half saw Hill and Stu Townsend scoring tries for Exeter while the Exiles maintained the deficit with tries from Albert Tuisue and Ollie Hassell-Collins.

Even though Exeter suffered a setback with both Olly Woodburn and Devoto sin-binned in the 60th and 62nd minutes respectively, all London Irish managed was a try from Steve Mafi as they succumbed to a 17-point defeat.