Match Centre: Exeter Chiefs 40-3 Castres

Exeter Chiefs 40-3 Castres, Sandy Park

Exeter Chiefs punished an ill-disciplined Castres side as they sealed a 40-3 win in the fourth round of the Heineken Champions Cup at Sandy Park on Saturday.

The result meant Exeter finished second in Pool A as they sealed a home game in the round of 16 while Castres finished 12th in the group with four defeats from as many games.

After the forwards dominated the opening exchanges, former Harlequins fly-half Ben Botica kicked a penalty goal after Josh Iosefa-Scott was penalised for infringing at a ruck.

Botica had a chance to double the lead but his long-range kick in the 22nd minute drifted wide before Jack Innard sent a simple offload for Henry Slade to touchdown for a converted try to make it 7-3.

Castres surrendered their advantage as Baptiste Delaporte was sin-binned in the 33rd minute for a series of infringement and three minutes later Feibyan Tukino was red carded as he led his shoulder into the head of an Exeter player.

The French side were down to 12 players temporarily with Babillot also yellow carded for bringing down an Exeter maul which also resulted in a penalty try for the Rob Baxter's men as they completed the opening half with a 14-3 lead.

With the momentum on their side, Exeter further extended their lead with Sam Simmonds diving over at the back of a line out maul on what was his 21st try in 27 games with Slade's conversion making it 21-3.

Even though Castres showed a lot of resilience, the 72nd minute saw them conceding their second penalty try after Aurélien Azar illegally brought down the maul with further tries from Jack Nowell and Christ Tshiunza extending their winning margin to 40-3.

Team line up:

Exeter: Hodge, Nowell, Slade (c), O'Loughlin, Woodburn, Skinner, S Maunder; Kenny, Innard, Iosefa-Scott, Kirsten, Jenkins, Ewers, Tshiunza, S Simmonds.

Reserves: Frost, Sio, Williams, Dunne, Fisilau, J Maunder, J Simmonds, Kata.

Castres: Dumora, Bouzerand, Seguret, Cocagi, Larregain, Botica, Kockott; Tichit, Barlot, Chilachava, Maravat, Vanverberghe, Babillot (c), Delaporte, Tukino.

Reserves: Humbert, Tierney, Azar, Kornath, Pieterse, Ben-Nicholas, Blanc, Chabouni.