Exeter finish group stage with another convincing win

Harlequins 17-41 Exeter Chiefs, Twickenham Stoop
Scorecard

Exeter Chiefs ran six tries as they signed off from the league stage with a convincing 17-41 bonus point win over Harlequins in their Aviva Premiership clash at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.

The Sandy Park outfit now finished the group stage with 85 points from 22 games while Harlequins had a disappointing campaign after ending 10th in the table.

Marcus Smith gave a head start to the Quins with a converted try in the 4th minute but the visitors were quick to respond with Dave Ewers and Dave Dennis crossing over in the 11th and 21st minute to take the scoreline to 7-12.

Smith with his first penalty brought down the gap to two points but Dennis with his second in the 32nd minute followed by Joe Simmonds' 35th minute try stretched the visitors' lead to 10-24 before England international Mike Brown dotting down at the stroke of half-time to reduce the arrears to seven points.

With Quins' struggling to score a point in the second half, tries from Tom Hendrickson and Alec Hepburn in the final 10 minutes ensured a 17-41 win for Rob Baxter's men.

Exeter Chiefs will now face Newcastle Falcons at Sandy Park on 19th May in the play-off.

"We have a 10-day training window now to get ourselves ready for the biggest game of our season," said Baxter.

"Joe Simmonds is going very well. There will tough selection decisions between him and Gareth Steenson for the semi-final - the guy that has been there and done it against the guy who has got the shirt at the minute.

"Joe has been fantastic for a young guy who is relatively inexperienced and then Steenson came on and did well as well.

"We are blessed with a good combination."